Orange Sky
by LemonStar
Summary: ..Daryl/Beth.. Sequel to "House Call". There were so many things Daryl Dixon never said but she had learned long ago that with him, she had to look at his actions rather than waiting for words he would never feel comfortable with himself saying to her.
1. Early Morning Looks

**A non-linear sequel to _House Call_. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter One.**

He didn't say it – never said it – but she knew he thought she was beautiful. There were so many things Daryl Dixon never said but she had learned long ago that with him, she had to look at his actions rather than waiting for words he would never feel comfortable with himself saying to her.

And she learned that she didn't need to hear those words constantly. She didn't need him to be sappy or poetic. That wasn't him and never had been and she had fallen in love with the man he was; not some version of a man she had thought she wanted for herself when she was in high school and watched too many romantic movies.

He told her he loved her just a couple of times in the three years since they had been together and married.

He told her for the first time that night she was ready to walk out and he had told her that they should get married. She had gasped and stared at him. Not because of his mumbled proposal but because he had told her he loved her. In the past year they had been sneaking around together, she had never thought he would ever say those words to him. Hoped but never actually thought he would; not even really allowing herself to think he did.

And when she gave birth to Hunter, he told her again, leaning down and whispering it in her ear – always whispering it as if he didn't want anyone else to possibly overhear his words to her.

But she didn't need him to tell her. She didn't need him to tell her every morning when they woke up and when they left for work and when they went to bed at night. She just needed him to look at her like he always did. Like his world began and ended with her. As long as he always looked at her like that, she knew he loved her.

She had people tell her throughout her life how beautiful they thought she was. Her pale porcelain skin, her hair like wheat, her eyes like the sky. Her sister had always teased her, saying she looked just like a doll.

Daryl had never called her beautiful but again, he didn't have to. She caught him looking at her sometimes that made her feel as if he was trying to see through her; like he wanted to grab her and hold onto her and breathe in her very soul to keep him alive. She had never had anyone look at her like Daryl did and even after hearing it for her entire life, for the first time, she believed she was beautiful.

At least to him.

Some nights, she would be playing the piano and she would feel him watching her. She would play the keys lightly and sing the songs softly and she pretended that she didn't sense his eyes burning holes into her body. She sang and played and it was silly and something she never told him but he had had so many bad things in his life, so much darkness, she wanted to bring something light into his house. _Their_ home.

Some nights, when she was on top, straddling him and slowly rocking her hips against his, she would look down at him and give him a breathless smile and he would be lying there, staring up at her with the most intense look in his eyes. And with those eyes, he was saying so much to her without uttering a single word.

She told him she loved him, murmuring the words in his ear, against his skin, against his lips, whispering it or crying it out or just over toast and coffee in the mornings. No one had ever said those words to Daryl in his life except for Merle in his drunken or high state, telling his little brother that no one would love him except for him. She knew, deep down, she told Daryl so many times as if she could make up for the first thirty-six years of his life and heal all of the scars inside and out.

"I love you," she whispered to him in the morning when they had both woken up to the rising sun filtering through the window blinds and birds chirping outside.

His eyes were still closed but she knew he was awake and she brushed her lips across his cheek, snuggling closer to him. He lifted his arm, sliding it around her lower back, holding her close as if he expected her to slip away completely.

She looked at him, her fingers brushing hair back from his forehead, and she kissed him once more, this time at the corner of his mouth. "I love you," she whispered again, her breath blowing puffs of warm air on his skin.

"You said that already," he grunted, still sounding half asleep, and her lips curved into a smile against his cheek, laughter bubbling in her throat.

"Must be true then," she teased and one corner of his mouth lifted in a sleepy smirk.

His thumb began stroking the base of her spine through the shirt she wore to sleep in. "Ain't got nothin' to do today," he said, his eyes still closed. "We could stay here."

His words made her smile a bit wider. "Daryl Dixon, are you suggesting we be lazy?"

He smirked, his hand slipping up under her shirt, fingers light on her bare back. He finally opened his eyes and he focused them on her. "Just suggestin' we stay in bed. It's cold out and the bed is warm." He looked at her for a moment. "You're warm."

She smiled at that as if it was the greatest compliment she had ever received and she lowered her head, nuzzling her nose to his ear.

"What about the kids?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Your ma's always tryin' to kidnap 'em anyway. We can just leave 'em with your parents for a little while longer."

She laughed softly at that and shifted a bit down so she could rest her head on his chest and slip an arm across his stomach. "I can't remember the last time we were able to just stay in bed."

"You're the one who decided to procreate," he said but she could hear the teasing in his voice and she laughed, pinching him gently on the side.

"I didn't hear you arguing," she turned her head, looking up at him.

He shrugged a shoulder. "Wasn't really lookin' for you to have babies with someone else," he said and he may have been smirking from one corner of his mouth but she looked at him and heard something else past his words.

He stared at her, too, and there was the look. The "I love you" look. The "you're beautiful" look. The "I still have no idea why you ever married me" look. The "I'm still waiting for you to wake up one morning and leave me" look.

That was the one that always broke Beth's heart and frustrated her at the same time because even after all of this time, he still lived, balanced delicately on an edge, loving her but at the same time, being absolutely terrified because she was the one with the power. Everyone thought Daryl Dixon was tough and hard and he was those things and more but inside of their house, Beth was the one in charge. She and Daryl both knew it. If she wanted to set the house on fire tomorrow so they could build a brand new one, he would look at her as if she crazy but flip his lighter open.

And if she wanted to leave him, she knew he wouldn't stop her.

Because even after all of this time, he still told her she was crazy for marrying him.

"My mom's already asking me if we're having another," she said quietly, still watching him.

"If your ma wants to be the one to support a third…" he trailed off and Beth smiled a little, nodding in agreement.

Luke and Hunter were expensive enough and money – what little they had – was stretched to the limit. There was no way they could afford three children.

That night when she had nearly walked out and Daryl mumbled out a statement of love and a marriage proposal, he had warned her that it wasn't going to be easy. He was a poor man and if she married him, she would be poor right alongside him. Beth knew she had had an easy life. She had lived in comfort on the farm, well provided for, her parents able to give her anything she needed.

But losing all of that didn't scare her. It excited her. She would have Daryl; be his wife. Who needed money when she had him? He had smirked a little and told her to just wait. She'd get tired of buying her clothes from thrift stores and eating nothing but generic brands from Aldi or deciding which bills would be paid on time that month and which ones could be afforded to be pushed back until the next paycheck.

She was determined to show him though. She would never complain and she would work just as hard as him. She would be a good wife; a good partner.

When she first started spending time with him, she became worried that she would do something and he would realize she wasn't the girl for him. She began hiding parts of herself from him, always living in fear that something that she had tried so hard to keep locked away would slip through anyway and he would look at her and wonder to himself what the hell he was doing with her. That she liked Disney movies or still had a stuffed teddy bear in her room or made up silly dances to songs on the radio or just liked laying down some days and finding shapes in the clouds. She was younger than him and she tried so hard to show to him that she was old enough, tough enough, _cool_ enough to be the girl a guy like him needed. She wanted to prove to him that she was the best thing to ever happen to him.

After a bit though, it became too exhausting, keeping so much of herself from him and slowly, she began showing more of what she had held so close to her chest before, watching him, waiting to see what he thought about each thing she revealed. But he didn't go anywhere or tell her to. He would just look at her and he always just looked so amused or confused – a look she would later come to understand as his own doubt about being the guy a girl like her needed.

She rested her head back on his chest. "I love you," she whispered for a third time. He didn't say anything but she felt his lips rest against her head.

They laid there, no more words exchanged, as the bedroom grew lighter with the rising sun. There were more birds now, all chirping over one another to have their morning song be hear above all the others. The boys had stayed at the farm the night before and they would have to go and collect them soon but for now, Daryl was right. Their bed was too warm and she felt reluctant to leave.

Daryl's fingers were still light on her back and she tightened her arm around his middle. His touch was barely there, almost ticklish, and she closed her eyes, focusing all of her attention onto the way he could make every nerve in her body shake; just with fingertips on her spine, she felt a light pulse between her thighs.

And as if he knew that, Daryl's fingers slipped a little lower, Beth biting down on her bottom lip in response, her hips pressing forward against his side on their own accord. They both knew what he was doing and with the kids gone for the morning, there was no better time than for him to get her turned on.

Without a word, she rolled from him, laying on her back next to him, tugging her shirt off over her head and tossing it aside. And then he was on top of her, lips meeting hers, his hands seemingly everywhere on her skin now, fingers dipping inside of her underwear, and Beth began singing her own morning song of moans and quiet cries of Daryl's name.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	2. Donuts

**Oh my goodness, the response to the first chapter completely blew me away. Thank you so, so much for the reviews, favorites and alerts. I hope this sequel can live up to your expectations! This story is going to switch back and forth between Beth and Daryl's POV.**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Two.**

Dale had treated the guys to donuts that morning and in the evening, when the garage was closing for the day, there were still a couple left. Dale handed Daryl the box on his way out the door.

"For the kids," the older man said.

There had been a time when Daryl would have frowned and pushed the box back to him, never one to ever accept anything from anyone, always looking to it as charity and Dixons never took charity. But now, he gave his boss a small smile and head nod as he took the box from him, knowing Beth especially would be excited with the surprise treat. She absolutely loved donuts.

He went out to his pickup truck, carefully setting the box down on the floor of the passenger seat. It wasn't a new truck but it was to him. He and Beth had been saving for a few months and finally, they were able to get a used one big enough for the family, trading in his beat-up rusted one with the simple bench seat. This one could fit Hunter's car seat in the back as well as the booster seat Luke sat in.

He left the auto garage and drove to the daycare center, parking at the curb in front. When he and Beth had first gotten married, he would ride his motorcycle everywhere and parked at the curb and waited for her, smoking a cigarette as he did. But then the kids came and he only find time to ride his bike sometimes on the weekends – as long as Beth could ride, too. It wasn't the same if she wasn't behind him, her slim arms wrapped around his waist, holding on tight.

He headed into the center where all of the kids had already been picked up and he found Beth in one of the classrooms, cleaning up from whatever craft they had done that day. She felt his presence in the doorway and she lifted her head, instantly bursting into a smile as soon as she saw him.

"Hey you." She came up to him and standing on her toes, she pressed her lips to his.

"Hey," he grunted in his low voice, his lips twitching in a small smile. "'Bout ready?"

She nodded. "Hunter's there," she pointed to a corner where Daryl stepped into the room and looked to see their thirteen-month old son passed out, his head resting on the neck of a giraffe stuffed animal. "And Luke's probably trailing after Carl. He has some serious hero worship going on."

Daryl smiled a little as he went to the corner, crouching down and gently hefting Hunter up in his arms, the baby remaining asleep as his head found Daryl's shoulder. He turned and watched as Beth put all of the scissors and glue bottles away into the supply cabinet and then grabbed her jacket and bag.

"I got a couple donuts," he told her and watched as Beth's face lit up again. He smirked a little, wondering if he should be insulted that he was on the same level as donuts on his wife's excitement scale.

They found Luke where Beth suspected he might be – sitting outside with Carl, who was waiting for his own mother. Carl smiled when he saw Daryl and blushed when he saw Beth and he wondered if she had any idea the kid had such a crush on her. Knowing Beth, she did. She just didn't want to put attention on it in fear of embarrassing him. He, sometimes, wondered how many guys felt like that about Beth. It wasn't as if he could blame them. His wife was damned-near perfect and she had gone off and married a Dixon and most of the guys her own age in town probably were still scratching their heads about that one. They had missed their chance long before they even realized they had a threat.

And most would expect him to be a possessive caveman over her and Daryl supposed he could be but at the same time, he never felt threatened. Beth wasn't interested in anyone else. Did he think she was crazy? Every single day but she was his crazy girl and he never thought for one second that she would leave him for someone else. Did he think she would leave? Yes. Someday. He was still waiting for her to wake the hell up and realize the mistake she made in choosing to have a life with him but even then, he was never worried that some other guy would catch Beth's attention. For some reason, he was the guy to have her whole heart.

His brother, Merle, often said that Beth was a flower growing in shit and Daryl supposed that that was the smartest thing his brother had ever said because it couldn't be more true. Most had accepted the fact that they were married but there were still those who thought Beth had ruined her life, picking up the Dixon last name as her own, marrying him, living with him, having a baby with him. Daryl tried as hard as he could, worked his ass off, to give her and their kids the best life possible. But sometimes, he would wake up and look at her still asleep next to him, her eyelashes fluttering against her pale skin and her blonde hair against the pillowcase and think to himself how she was the most beautiful thing in the world. And then he would think of his own mother, how she had been pretty once but being married to Will Dixon had slowly worn her down until she was a lady of wrinkles and smoke.

After daycare, Luke was always pretty quiet and Hunter was still asleep.

"Got you a donut," Daryl told him as he drove them home.

Luke gasped quietly from the backseat. "Really?"

Beth had picked the box up from the floor and now rested it in her lap. She opened the lid, practically licking her lips. "Two chocolates, one glazed and one jelly."

"Can I have the jelly?" Luke asked.

Beth smiled, turning in her seat to look at him. "Tomorrow, for breakfast, we're going to have a feast," she said and Luke smiled, too.

"Thank you, daddy," Luke said, his tiredness slipping back into his voice and he let out a small yawn. "I've never had a donut," he then said quietly, looking out the window.

Daryl found himself nodding. There were so many things Luke still hadn't tried; things Daryl remembered not trying for himself until he was a few years older. He had learned to take care of himself before he even hit the double digits and they all knew Luke would have had the same sort of life. His real parents getting arrested and thrown in jail was the best thing they ever did for him. Luke went from being a Ridgeway to being a Dixon and Daryl looked at him so many times and saw himself.

"You'll love them, Luke. They are one of the best things in the world," Beth told him.

"If you had to choose, me or donuts?" Daryl asked her, one corner of his mouth pulling upwards as he turned on the road that led them into the woods to their house. Hunter had woken up and they could all hear him whimpering, knowing he was going to burst out crying any second, and Daryl pressed down on the gas pedal a bit more to get them home faster.

Beth pretended to contemplate that for a minute. "Well, what kind of donuts?" She asked, her eyes dancing, and Daryl smirked.

Beth had left their crock pot on during the day and they walked into the house to the scent of the chili hanging in the air. As Beth went to the kitchen to check on their dinner, Daryl took the boys into their room. Luke put his backpack away and began to change into his pajamas and Daryl changed Hunter into a fresh diaper and his own pajamas.

"Fifteen more minutes," Beth said. "I just threw the cornbread in the oven."

Daryl nodded and set Hunter down, the baby immediately going towards the toy box against the wall next to the television. The box of donuts had been set on the counter and he went to it, taking one of the chocolate ones. Beth didn't say anything and just watched him as she set the table, seeming to know what he was doing.

He ripped off a small piece of a chocolate donut and then went to the couch where Luke was sitting, having flipped on the television.

"Here, Luke. Just a bit for now," he said, holding out the small offering.

Luke's eyes widened and he slid off the couch so he could stand before Daryl. He took the piece of chocolate donut and looked at it for a moment as if he couldn't believe he was about to try one. He then popped it into his mouth and took his time chewing it, allowing himself to taste it.

"What do you think?" Beth asked, having been watching him, too.

Luke licked at the lingering taste on his lips. "I love donuts!" He then exclaimed, Daryl smiling a little and Beth laughing softly.

They ate their chili and cornbread for dinner, all sitting at the table, and Beth talked about her day with Luke throwing in his own stories and Daryl sometimes grunting out what had happened that day at the garage. He mostly just sat and ate as his wife carried the conversation. He had never had this before marrying Beth – sitting at a table with others and sharing a meal and when they got married, it was something she quickly implemented in their life together. He sometimes thought of how glad he was that his sons was growing up with this in their life. It was something so small but most people didn't realize how important it could be.

After dinner, Luke helped clean the dishes from the table and carry them to the sink as was one of his chores and he then returned to the living room where he turned back on the television – no television on as they ate was one of the rules – and he dug out his containers of Play-Doh from under the coffee table. Daryl lifted Hunter from his high chair and the baby went toddling off and Daryl went to the sink. Beth cooked and Daryl cleaned the dishes. Another rule though Beth had never said he had to do it. It was a rule he had made for himself. Marrying Beth had brought those along with it. Rules and structure and having law and order within the house – things a Dixon house had never seen before.

As his hands were submerged in the soapy warm water, Beth came up behind him, slipping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his back.

"I love you," she murmured quietly to him.

"'Cause of the donuts?" He asked, the teasing light in his voice, a slight smirk across his lips.

Beth laughed softly and standing on her toes, she brushed her lips across the back of his neck. "Well, obviously."

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	3. A Country Song

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**Chapter Three.**

She moaned softly as he licked a bead of sweat sliding down between her clavicle and her body still trembled beneath his. He was heavy on top of her, his own skin sticky with sweat against hers, but she held him in place, her hands clutching his back, not wanting him to move. She had quickly discovered her favorite place in the world was having her body beneath Daryl Dixon's.

He slipped out of her and slowly rolled off of her, laying on his back next to her. He tugged up his jeans, zipping and buttoning them up but he kept his shirt off. He produced a pack of cigarettes, popping one into his mouth and lighting it. He bent an arm back behind his head and looked up at the night sky as he exhaled the smoke.

Beth slowly sat up and smiled faintly as she put her bra back on, clasping it again. She almost wanted to giggle. Her life suddenly felt like a country song. Sneaking out and making love with a man in the back bed of his pickup truck.

"Where are we?" She asked, looking around to where he had driven them tonight; a clearing in the middle of the woods, trees surrounding them and nothing but the sounds of crickets and cicadas and an owl in the distance could be heard.

"Just a place," he shrugged, taking another drag of the cigarette.

She left her shirt off, too, and after finding her underwear, pulling them back on under the skirt she wore that evening, she laid down next to him, resting her head on his chest. He moved the arm from under his head and slung it around her lower back. She laid there, listening to the insects and the beating of his heart and she wanted time to just stop so she could stay there in the back of Daryl's pickup truck with him forever.

"I used to come here all the time," he said in his low voice and Beth had known there had been more; that this wasn't just a place. "When my ol' man was in one of his moods and with Merle gone, I used to come here just to get away from all of it."

Beth didn't say anything. She knew of the scars on his back and he occasionally let something about his childhood slip but she knew that if she asked him anything outright, he would just clam up and ignore her. So she hid her curiosity and swallowed her questions and slowly, he let more things out to her about what it was like as he grew up. She never said anything, knowing he didn't really want her to say anything. He didn't want her pity or her comfort so she gave him neither. She just laid still and listened to what he said and her heart broke silently.

"Would camp out here for a couple a' days, huntin', just me and no one else," he said and then took another drag of his cigarette.

She laid there, quiet, feeling his thumb brushing back and forth along one knob of her spine. She shifted her head, rubbing her cheek against his chest, looking to his face.

"Will you take me camping?" She asked.

"Yeah," he answered and she must have looked surprised because he smirked a little, turning his head upwards and exhaling a stream of smoke. He looked back to her. "You think I wouldn'?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "I don't know," she smiled a little. "I know how seriously you take camping. I don't want to cramp your style or something." She then laughed when he cocked an eyebrow at that. "I've never been camping before."

"Never? Not even in Girl Scouts or somethin'?"

"How'd you know I was in Girl Scouts?"

He smirked again. "You're like the poster girl for Girl Scouts," he teased her and she laughed again, pinching his side.

"I was supposed to go on a camping trip with them the summer of seventh grade but I had to get my tonsils out instead," she explained and he nodded as if he knew that and took another puff of his cigarette. "I'm scared of spiders," she then told him.

"Not like I planned on settin' a tent up in a web or somethin'," he shrugged and he exhaled a slight laugh on a cloud of smoke as she pinched him again.

Beth sat up and looked down at him, her smile faint and soft. "You're very handsome," she then told him rather randomly and even in the darkness of the field, she could _hear_ the tips of his ears turn red as they were sometimes prone to do.

"You're outta your damn mind, girl," he said.

She leaned down then and pressed her lips to his. He tasted like an ashtray but she didn't care. She had gotten used to it. He tasted like smoke and ash and something that was so him, it all mixed together and made her stomach churn.

She heard Daryl flick his cigarette away and then his hands were on her face, sliding back into her hair, and she slid her body down, stretching it alongside his. She opened her mouth against his and he slipped his tongue into her mouth, making her moan softly. She felt one of his hands slide around to her back, fingers tracing the clasp of her bra. She pressed herself more against him and she heard herself moan softly.

Daryl pulled away then though, a pained expression on his face.

"What?" Beth pulled back a little, looking at him.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I gotta pee," he then said as if the words hurt him to say.

Beth looked at him for a moment and then laughed softly. "Don't let me stop you."

He smirked a little and sat up. He slid from the truck and Beth watched him as he walked a bit away from the truck, the darkness swallowing him. She hummed a soft song to herself as she found her shirt and tugged it back on over her head.

"Beth," Daryl suddenly appeared and she jumped a little, startled. "Come on."

"Where?"

"Wanna show you somethin'," he said but didn't explain further. "Come on," he said.

He grabbed his shirt, tugging it on. He then turned his back to her and she smiled, wondering if he was serious but then he looked at her over his shoulder and she knew he was. Her smile bigger, she slid to the edge of the truck bed and onto his back, his arms hooking around her knees, holding her securely as she put her arms around his neck.

He began carrying her away from the truck towards the trees but she didn't ask again where he was taking her. It was dark but he walked easily through the landscape of the woods.

She couldn't get herself to stop smiling. She felt silly; like she was part of any other normal couple who was just being silly together. She nuzzled her nose against the side of his neck and closed her eyes as he piggy-backed her to some spot unknown in the woods. She wanted to be normal with him; have a normal relationship that they could have and share out in the open in front of anyone's eyes. He had been the one to suggest they keep it quiet and she had agreed – though a few months into it, she couldn't remember her exact reason for doing so.

She was so in love with him and she didn't understand why he wanted to keep it quiet between them. Was he embarrassed to be dating her? To be sleeping with her and spending all of his free time with her? She knew they were so different and that she wasn't at all the type of woman a guy like Daryl Dixon would find himself with. Is that why he was wanting it to stay a secret?

She loved him. She was so in love with him and imagined herself always being with him. She wanted to marry him. She wanted to be with him so badly, just thinking about it now, she felt a slight burning behind her closed eyes because while she wanted her entire life with him, she knew he could easily live his without her.

"Beth," he said her name softly and she opened her eyes instantly.

And when she did, she gasped. Fireflies. Seemingly hundreds of fireflies lighting the sky and she had never seen anything like it. Their lights blinking on and off as if they were singing and dancing to their own symphony. Beth stared at the sight, not wanting to blink in case she did and the sight in front of her disappeared.

Her arms tightened slightly around his neck and she moved her head forward, resting it against his.

"You like it?" Daryl asked lowly.

"I love it," she whispered. "I've lived in Georgia my whole life and I've never seen anything like this."

"Saw this for the first time when I was nine and got lost," he said.

Another slip of his childhood but she didn't ask him questions. He shifted her on his back but didn't let her go and she wondered if she was too heavy for him to still be holding but he didn't make any sign that he thought so.

"Thank you for showing this to me," she whispered. "I'll always remember this."

He shrugged then. "We can come back whenever you want. As many times as you want."

And he probably didn't think he had said anything special but Beth felt a warmth spread in her chest, registering his words and clinging onto them. He didn't even realize he had done it but he had just promised her that they had more time together. She didn't know how long and he probably didn't either but right now, with his words, she was going to pretend that they had all of the time in the world.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review!<strong>


	4. Christmas

**I know some were requesting a Christmas chapter. If any of you want something in particular you want to read, just let me know!**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Four. **

Hershel and Annette had gotten Hunter a fire engine for Christmas and three hours since opening it, Beth already wanted to throw it out the window. Complete with sirens and bells and colors flashing, the baby laughed as he crawled and pushed it around the room, taking absolute delight in all of the noises it made.

They spent the night at the farm for Christmas so they could go to church in the evening where Beth played piano and then come home where the boys could go to sleep and Santa would come to put the presents underneath the big tree in the living room before drinking the glass of milk and eating the chocolate chip cookies that had been baked just that afternoon.

While they stayed there, Beth and Daryl always slept in the bedroom that was still hers even though she had been married and gone for three years now and the boys slept across the hall in what was usually the guest room but just as the sky began to turn pink and purple with dawn, Daryl, always a light sleeper, would hear the door creak open and then just seconds later, Luke would leap onto the bed, announcing to his parents that it was Christmas. It was his second Christmas with the family, his first as an official Dixon, and he was brimming with excitement. They could practically feel it buzzing off of him like electricity.

Beth did her best to put money aside during the other eleven months of the year so she could always give her boys a good Christmas and her parents and brother and sister certainly pitched in. She made sure none of them went overboard though. She didn't want Luke and Hunter getting used to receiving so much when money was always so tight at home. A few new toys each was more than enough.

And she also made sure that Daryl always had a few things to open on Christmas morning. He had grown up, never celebrating Christmas. It had always been just another day to him and it had broken her heart when she learned that he had never gotten a Christmas present. She was quick to change that and now, every year, she tried to make every Christmas perfect for him, too.

After the presents were open, paper flying in a frenzy and the excited whoops of Luke and the gurgles of Hunter in the air, things were calm for a little bit afterwards. Luke was asleep on the floor and Beth had no idea how he could sleep since Hunter was pushing that fire truck everywhere.

Annette went into the kitchen to begin cooking for dinner that evening and keeping everyone else out. Hershel, Shawn and Maggie were lounging around on the couches, drinking coffee and watching the morning news though there wasn't that much to report on Christmas morning except toy drives and feel-good stories.

Beth still wore her pajama shorts and tee-shirt but she slipped on her heavy cable-knit sweater and wool socks and stepped outside, finding Daryl sitting on the front porch steps, a mug of eggnog between his hands. He had never had it before Christmases with the Greene family and they all discovered that he absolutely loved it. He drank as much of it as he could around this time of year while it was available.

He didn't look over his shoulder when he heard the door opening behind him, already knowing who it was. Beth sat down beside him, slipping her arm through his, hugging it to her chest with both of hers. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Good Christmas?" She asked him as she had the previous years.

He nodded and sipped his eggnog. "You?"

She smiled and nodded, her eyes slipping closed. "It's always good. I might kill my parents though," she said and felt him smirk a little. "Why would they get Hunter something like that?" She asked. "It's terrible."

He took another sip. "It's alright."

And she knew to him, it really was. He liked everything about Christmas – even the noises of the toys that gave them all headaches. He never said it but she knew he did. The boys and their excitement, the eggnog, Annette's prime rib for dinner, watching an endless loop of _A Christmas Story_ on television with Shawn and Maggie. She knew that it could turn out to be the worst day of the year and Daryl would still like it because it was Christmas.

"I didn't notice what Shawn gave you," she said.

Daryl smirked again and shook his head slightly. "That's 'cause I opened it and hid it. Gave me a box of condoms."

Beth's head flew up and she looked at him. He just smiled a little and took another sip of eggnog. "What?" She asked, not knowing what else to say.

"Said two kids for us are 'nough," he said, looking at her.

"I'm going to kill him," she stated matter-of-factly.

"You're gonna be doin' that a lot today. New tradition?"

"He's just so annoying," Beth frowned.

Daryl didn't say anything to agree or disagree. He just leaned in, a hand sliding over her cheek, and he tugged her in gently, meeting her lips in a soft kiss. Her eyes fluttered shut and she sank herself against him, her arms sliding around his waist, pressing herself against him.

When their lips separated, she kept her eyes closed and he swept his lips across her forehead like he was so prone to do. She then burrowed close to him again and they sat there in the Christmas morning quiet, Daryl sipping his eggnog and Beth feeling as if she could fall back asleep right then and there.

They eventually went in, too cold to stay out longer, and once inside, Daryl handed Beth the empty mug and scooped Hunter up in his arms and on her way past the couch, Beth smacked Shawn on the back of his head.

Shawn just grinned. "He told you, huh?"

Beth glared at him as she continued on her way into the kitchen.

Daryl sat down on the couch next to Hershel, shifting Hunter in his arms, the baby squirming to be put down, stretching his arms out to the fire truck across the room.

"Let's play with somethin' else for a while, Hunter," Daryl suggested, holding him firmly, and Hunter began whimpering, about to break into a full-fledged cry.

Maggie, seeing that her nephew was about to have a meltdown, rushed from her chair and went to the toys on the floor. "Here, Hunter. What about this? This is so cool," she said, holding out his new green stuffed T-Rex.

The crying had started though and Hunter, wailing, took the T-Rex and threw it back at Maggie. Shawn stifled a laugh and Maggie glared at him. Daryl stood up, hoisting Hunter up with him. He did his best to hush him, bouncing him slightly in his arms.

Beth, hearing the baby crying from the kitchen, hurried back into the living room. Hunter's face was red and his mouth was open as he kept screaming, still trying to throw himself out of Daryl's arms so he could get to his fire truck. But then he saw Beth and he started stretching his arms out for her. Hunter was a mama's boy and sometimes, when he was wailing away like this, Beth was the only one who could get him to calm down. Daryl gratefully passed their son from his arms into hers.

"Shhhh, Hunter," she murmured to the baby, bouncing him gently in her arms.

"He wants the fire truck," Daryl told her.

Hunter was crying so hard, the baby nearly had the hiccups, pressing his wet and flushed face against Beth's neck. Luke, awake now from Hunter's cries, sat up and yawned amongst the sea of wrapping paper before he took one of his toys – the favorite one he had received today: a twenty-pack of Play-Doh. He grabbed it and went to Shawn, who slid down to sit on the floor with him and grabbed one of the containers as Luke grabbed another.

"I'm sorry, Bethy," Hershel said as she rubbed Hunter's back up and down and Daryl had gone into the kitchen to get one of Hunter's bottles. "I guess I wasn't thinking when I bought it for him."

Beth shook her head and gave her father a small smile. "It's alright," she said. "It's Christmas." She looked to Daryl as he came out from the kitchen, a bottle in hand, and gave him his own small smile. "This is what Christmas is all about."

Daryl smirked a little. "Screamin' babies and poundin' headaches?" He asked.

"Exactly why Jesus was born," she laughed a little and then sighed when Hunter continued crying. "Hunter, your daddy has a bottle. Are you hungry?"

Hunter pressed his face harder against her neck.

"Breakfast!" Annette announced, entering the living room, seemingly unaware of her grandson's fit. She placed a plate of cinnamon buns down on the coffee table and began handing plates out to everyone before returning to the kitchen. It was the same every Christmas. She spent the day cooking their evening feast and glared at anyone who tried to help.

"Beth, just give him the fire truck," Shawn sighed, dropping a bun onto a plate for Luke and set it down next to the boy since he was too preoccupied with his Play-Doh right now to stop and eat.

"I can't," she shook her head. "I don't want him to think that anytime he has a meltdown, he can get whatever he wants. I'm not going to raise a brat."

"It's Christmas, Bethy," Maggie reminded her gently.

The phone rang and Hershel, sitting next to it, picked it up after two rings. He listened for a moment and then pressed a key on the pad. That could only mean the call was from one person.

"Merle, Merry Christmas," Hershel broke into a smile. "We didn't think you'd be able to get to use the phone today."

As Hershel spoke with Merle for a minute, Daryl looked at Beth and Beth looked at Daryl. Neither said anything and then slowly, she nodded her head and sighed. Daryl went and got the fire truck from the floor and brought it over.

"Givin' into 'im one time won't make 'im a brat," Daryl told her.

The instant Hunter saw the truck, his tears stopped and his arms stretched out for it, wiggling in her arms. Beth set Hunter down on the floor and Daryl set the truck down and Hunter squealed with delight as he got his toy again. He immediately began pushing it around, pressing the buttons of the sirens and bells.

Beth winced and Daryl smirked. She looked at him for a moment and smiled faintly before stepping to him and sliding her arms around his waist. He circled her shoulders with his arms and held her tightly to his chest, his lips brushing across her forehead. She sighed softly and rested her head against his chest.

"Daryl," Hershel said.

Daryl squeezed Beth once more in his arms and then broke away.

"Glad I got you those condoms," Shawn grinned up at him and then laughed as Daryl "accidentally" kicked him on the way to taking the phone.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review!<strong>


	5. White Trash Wedding

**There is just something about this chapter I absolutely love. I hope you love it, too! **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Five.**

He had never dressed up for anything before but Beth had told him that this was one time where he didn't have a choice in the matter. It was a wedding and he couldn't wear his usual holey jeans and flannel shirt no matter how much he grumbled.

He wore black pants, a white button down shirt, a black tie and he felt so damn uncomfortable. But he supposed he could put up with it for one day – especially considering how Beth was smiling at him every time she looked at him. He told her he refused to fix his hair though and she just laughed as if she expected that.

Maggie and Glenn had a small wedding on the farm one spring afternoon with just close family and friends invited.

Beth was the maid-of-honor, wearing a dress of red and holding a bouquet of white lilies, and her hair pulled up in some fancy up-do that Daryl didn't understand how it was staying up. Shawn was the best man and of course, he had nearly lost the rings during the ceremony.

Daryl sat beside Annette and Hershel and did his best to keep Hunter as under control as the toddler was going to allow and Luke sat on Hershel's lap, paying rapt attention to everything. He had never been to a wedding before and had been so eager to attend. Daryl supposed he had never been to a wedding either – not even really his own seeing as he and Beth had run off and got married in a chapel in Atlanta with no one else present except the man running the ceremony. And he didn't forget that he got to wear jeans to his wedding.

They all clapped and cheered when it was announced that Glenn and Maggie were husband and wife and they shared their first kiss. Daryl clapped along with everyone else but he made a seriously amateur mistake in removing his hands from Hunter for the instant he was free, Hunter took off running. Everyone laughed when they saw him making his great escape but luckily, he ran straight for Beth. Beth laughed and shifting the flower bouquet into one hand, she stooped down and hefted Hunter up in her other arm, resting him on her hip.

There was a buffet set up for the reception and the tables surrounded the dance floor. They sat at a table with Hershel, Annette, Shawn and his date for the evening – Dawn, some cop he had met in Atlanta. Daryl didn't like her – got a feeling about her and he never ignored his instincts – and he ate without talking and cut pieces of the pork for Luke to eat. Beth tried to be polite to her brother's date though really, it seemed like Shawn was bringing a different woman around each time the situation called for him to bring a date and Beth was beginning to lose track.

There was a small stage set up for the band and Maggie had asked Beth weeks ago that she sing the song for her and Glenn to have their first dance to. Beth stood behind the microphone and sang U2's _All I Want is You_, Daryl never taking his eyes off of her the entire time.

After Maggie and Glenn shared their first dance, the small band began playing a more lively tune and Maggie called out for her nephews to dance with her. Luke immediately went running for the dance floor and Hunter toddled after him. Daryl left the table and returned with a piece of the banana wedding cake and as he neared their table again, he watched Beth and the way she was watching the boys on the dance floor, smiling softly.

Daryl sat in his chair beside her, placing the piece of cake down in front of her and she smiled her thanks at him, picking up her fork. She then leaned in, putting her mouth to his ear.

"You look so handsome tonight," she whispered and he grunted his reply, tugging at his tie – thing felt like how he would imagine a damned noose to feel – making her laugh softly. She kissed his cheek and his hand slid onto her knee underneath the table, giving it a squeeze.

She looked back to the dance floor, Maggie laughing as she and Hershel shared another dance, and Daryl watched her watching them.

"You regret the way we got married?" He asked her gruffly.

She looked at him, still smiling, and she shook her head. "Not for a single second." He was looking at her though as if he didn't believe her. "I loved how we got married," she told him softly yet her words were firm, her eyes never leaving his. "Did you want a wedding like this?" She then asked, looking at him closely.

He shook his head like she knew he would but then he shrugged. "Woulda done it if it's what you wanted," he then mumbled in a soft tone.

Beth heard him perfectly though and without saying anything, her smile more than enough of a response, she slid over in her chair, closer to him, and slipping her arms around his neck, she kissed him.

"Hey, you two," Shawn came to the table with two flutes of champagne. He handed one to Dawn as he sat down across from them. "Hand check, Dixon," he grinned.

Daryl didn't say anything, leaning back in his chair, but Beth glared at her older brother, her arms still around Daryl's neck.

"You are so annoying," she informed him but Shawn just kept grinning and shrugged before taking a gulp of his champagne.

Dawn took a small sip of her champagne and then cleared her throat. "Beth, how long have you and Daryl been married?" She asked.

"Four years, almost five," Beth smiled, finally pulling her arms from around Daryl so she could eat a bite of the cake he had brought her.

A slow song started playing and Beth looked towards the dance floor with a faint longing that she wasn't able to mask completely from her face. It was enough Daryl had gotten dressed up for the wedding. There was no way he would dance at it, too. There were some things Dixons never – _ever _ – did and dancing was one of them.

"Come on, Beth," Shawn stood up, draining the rest of his champagne.

She smiled and stood up, placing her hand in Shawn's and he tugged her onto the dance floor. Daryl watched, eating a bite of the cake. Beth was smiling and laughing as Shawn kept spinning her around in circles.

"You don't dance?" Dawn asked.

Daryl just shook his head. He still didn't want to talk to this woman. There was just something about her that didn't rest easy on him. Luckily, Shawn didn't date the same woman for too long and Daryl wasn't going to miss this one when she was gone. There was just something cold about her. She reminded him of his dad of all people. Cold and dangerous; had to be careful when she was around.

The song ended and Beth returned to the table, Hunter now in her arms, the toddler dozing off with his head on her shoulder.

"I can't find Luke," she said. "I'm thinking it's time we get these two home."

Daryl nodded, taking one more bite of cake and then standing up. "I'll find 'im."

The first place he looked was in the barn and sure enough, Luke was there, feeding Nelly a piece of hay and rubbing her nose. Luke loved the horses on the Greene farm and Maggie had promised him she would show him to ride for his sixth birthday. Luke already had a countdown going on.

For the wedding, Beth had dressed him like Daryl. Black pants and a white shirt and Hershel had bought him his own little black tie. Daryl wondered if the kid was as uncomfortable as he was.

"Hey," Daryl came up beside him. "You ready to go home?"

Luke nodded and kept rubbing Nelly's nose. He then gave the horse a kiss and looked to Daryl, smiling. Daryl smiled, too, and together, they headed out of the barn towards the back of the house where they had parked their truck. Beth had already placed Hunter in his car seat and she was hugging Maggie goodbye. It took them a few more minutes to say goodbye to the family, Maggie even hugging Daryl, before they climbed into the truck and Daryl drove them off the farm, heading home.

Hunter was asleep in his car seat, Luke was nearly there and the truck was quiet.

"I have a taste for Taco Bell," Beth said quietly and when he turned his head to look at her, she was looking at him, smiling.

"Ser'sly?" He smirked a little.

"It's a tradition. A wedding and then we eat Taco Bell," she explained with a shrug, her smile still in place.

He smirked again and shook his head. "White trash weddin' maybe."

"There was nothing white trash about our wedding, Daryl Dixon," she told him sternly and there was still a teasing in her tone but he knew she was very serious. He didn't say anything and she turned in her seat more towards him, her eyes never leaving his. "I don't ever wish we got married a different way, Daryl," she told him softly and he looked at her for a moment before looking back to the road.

He grunted something and stopped the truck at a red light.

Beth took the opportunity to lean across the seat and press her lips to his cheek. "I know what this is really about," she then said and he turned his head, looking at her curiously. Her eyes were sparkling and she laughed a little. "You wanted a big fancy wedding for us just so you could wear your nice clothes."

He smirked at that, it slowly sliding into a smile. "No one knows me like you," he joked and she laughed softy, kissing his cheek again.

When the light turned green, instead of going straight which would take them home, he turned left and moments later, he was pulling into the Taco Bell parking lot.

Beth laughed and he looked at her from the corner his eye, smirking a little. As he pulled into the drive-thru, she looked back at Luke and Hunter, both completely passed out, Luke having a trace of cake icing on his chin. Daryl placed their order without asking her what she wanted and she reached for his wallet where he had kept it in the glove box that day.

"You woulda looked pretty in a weddin' dress," he suddenly said in a quiet voice.

Beth looked at him, the wallet still in her hand. The illuminated menu sign outside provided just enough light inside of their truck for her to see the tips of his ears turn red like they did whenever he said something sweet and he felt the need to be embarrassed about it; as if he still didn't have a right to say things like that to her.

She looked at him and then leaned over. The only problem with their new truck that she found was that this one no longer had the bench seat like their old one. She couldn't get as close to him as she wanted in this one but she still managed. She took hold of his tie and pulled him towards her and Daryl looked at her, a little surprised but he allowed himself to be pulled.

Her smile was faint and her eyes were dancing. "I'm so glad I married you, Daryl Dixon," she whispered to him right before she pressed her lips to his.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	6. Three

**Thank you for everyone who is reading this story. I have a lot of other ideas planned for later chapters. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Six. **

He was convinced no other woman in the world felt as good as Beth. She was so wet and so tight, squeezing herself around him as she laid beneath him, moaning and gasping and rubbing her body against his. She whimpered and sighed and Daryl had no idea how she had gotten so damn good at sex because technically, it was something they had kind of learned together.

Her thighs began quivering and her fingers dug into his back. Her back arched and she whimpered his name in a way that drove him to his own completion. He gripped her hip so tightly, he was pretty sure it was going to bruise and he groaned into the side of her neck as he came inside of her. She whimpered again and held onto him tightly as his own trembles began to slowly subside.

They laid there for the minutes after, both trying to catch their breaths again. She nuzzled her nose against his ear and her hands rubbed up and down his back. Daryl finally lifted his head, brushing his lips across hers, and he slowly pulled from her, reaching down and holding onto the condom so it came off with him. He stood up from the bed, carefully taking the condom off and he tugged on his boxers before leaving their bedroom, heading into the bathroom to flush the condom down the toilet and to check quick on the boys, sleeping deeply in their room.

They always had to be careful when they had sex. Their bed was old and creaked and Beth had been so paranoid when they first got Luke staying with them that he would hear them going at it in the next room. But it never happened and they always waited until they were sure both boys were deeply asleep.

Daryl came back into the bedroom, looking at Beth as she laid in their bed, having pulled the quilt over her naked body. She turned her head on the pillow and looked at him, giving him a small smile, and he crawled back onto the bed, flopping down on his stomach and tossing an arm across her middle.

"Do you think we'll always have to use those?" She asked him quietly.

Daryl peeled an eye open to look at her and she was looking at him, her fingers lightly trailing up and down his arm. He didn't say anything because he wasn't entirely too sure what to say.

"Don't see any other way," he finally answered.

"I know," she nodded and let out a small sigh. Daryl kept staring at her, wondering what was going on in that head of hers. "And most of the time, I am more than happy with everything we have. I just… sometimes, I just wish that it was even an option."

Again, Daryl didn't know what to say so he didn't say anything. It was sometimes a comment made in passing but Daryl never really took it seriously because Beth was always smiling or teasing as she said it and they both were more than aware of their situation. They both had jobs and worked their asses off but they had two kids already and they had no money left over for anything more.

And he knew Beth hadn't meant anything by it but just thinking that he couldn't give his wife another baby if that was what she wanted, he felt lower than shit right now. They just didn't have the money. They didn't even have the room.

Beth, as if she could sense that, lifted a hand to his head, brushing some of his longer hair from his forehead. "I'm happy," she said quietly. "You know I'm happy."

He nodded and didn't say anything, shifting his head on her shoulder. Her fingers combed through his hair and she was humming a quiet song but after a few minutes, it dropped off as she fell asleep. Daryl couldn't follow after though and he laid awake for what felt like hours, just staring into the darkness and listening to Beth breathe and telling himself there was no way they could have another kid. They just couldn't. Some days, it felt like there wasn't enough for the four of them. How the hell would they be able to have a fifth one in this family?

He had considered asking Dale for a raise more than once. It was said time and time again that he was the best mechanic Dale had and if that was true, Daryl didn't think getting paid a bit more was such an outrageous request. But at the same time, he didn't want to ask. If Dale thought he deserved more money, he would give it to him.

The next morning, Beth took a shower as Daryl got the boys dressed and Beth fed them breakfast as Daryl took his own shower. When he came out to the kitchen again, Beth was on her hands and knees, cleaning up pieces of cereal Hunter had thrown onto the floor and Luke was standing at the laundry basket on the couch, tugging off his shirt after having spilled milk all over it, changing into something dry.

Daryl watched the slightly chaotic scene, wanting to shake his head because there was just no way they could have a third kid.

He usually always drove Beth to work since it saved on gas and it was just another way they could save a bit of extra money. He dropped her off at the daycare center and she took Hunter and he then went to the elementary school, dropping Luke off now where he had begun first grade. He then finally got himself to the auto garage.

He began work as soon as the first car arrived, fixing a crack in the engine that was leaking coolant, and Daryl kept his head down as he always did, working diligently, only taking the occasional break to smoke a cigarette out back. The other guys would joke around until Dale tapped the glass from the front and send them a glare but Daryl was never the sort to join in. He worked on car after car, sometimes able to do things that none of the other mechanics there could do.

He thought about a third baby and how Hunter was just two and Luke was six and he supposed if they were to have another baby, now would be a good time but really, for him and Beth, there was never a good time.

What the hell would they do about the house? It was small as hell for four people and he had already built the second bedroom for Luke and Hunter. If they had another boy, Daryl supposed they could squeeze three boys into that room but what if they had a girl? Where the hell would they put her? He would have to build another room because it wasn't like they could just pick up and move somewhere else.

No. They couldn't have another baby.

He considered talking to Martinez about it. Caesar was one of his closest friends and there had been other things that he had talked about with him before but this time, he kept his mouth shut and didn't say anything.

There wasn't really anything to talk about anyway. Beth maybe wanted a third kid and they just couldn't afford it. End of discussion.

At the end of the day, he washed the oil and grease staining his hands in the employee bathroom sink as well as he could before he headed out to his truck parked in the back employee lot. He felt himself slow his steps as he passed by Dale's office, the man hunched over his desk, hitting calculator buttons with the top of his pencil's eraser and Daryl told himself that asking for a raise while the man was working on the books was not the best time to do it.

After school, Carol, the receptionist at Dr. Stookey's office, was able to leave work for a few minutes so she could take her daughter, Sophia, to the daycare center and she started taking Luke, too, so when Daryl gets to the daycare center himself, Luke was always already there.

Beth was helping kids put on their shoes and jackets as their parents came to pick them up. Daryl found Hunter and Luke in one of the classrooms, Luke sitting at a table and coloring a page in a coloring book, crayons spread all around him. Hunter was sitting on the floor, laughing to himself as he played with a few of the plastic cars, smashing them together.

"Hey, guys," Daryl said as he stepped into the room.

Hunter gurgled and putting his hands on the floor, he pushed himself to his feet and hurried over to him as Daryl sat down in one of the small chairs at the table Luke was at. Daryl smiled and lifted Hunter up, settling him on his lap, not wincing as Hunter immediately grabbed at the hair on his face and began tugging. Daryl looked at the picture Luke was coloring. He was meticulous, always staying in the lines. Beth had said that Luke was already showing signs of perhaps those of a budding artist.

"Looks good," Daryl commented.

"Yeah?" Luke smiled widely at that. "I know dogs aren't blue but I think a blue dog would be pretty cool."

Daryl smiled a little as Luke continued coloring. He turned his head when Beth came into the room and Hunter abandoned pulling on his hair to stretch his arms out for her. Beth smiled, coming to them and lifting the toddler into her arms.

"How was your day?" She asked as they got all of their things together.

He nodded. "Busy. Yours?"

"Busy," she nodded as well.

Instead of going straight home, they went to the grocery store where Daryl swung Hunter up into the front seat of the shopping cart and Beth had Luke hold the envelope of all of the coupons they had cut that past Sunday.

"I'm going to be giving more piano lessons," Beth said as she looked over the bushels of bananas. "I was also thinking about giving singing lessons but I don't think, just because I know how to sing, I know enough about how to teach someone else how to."

Daryl looked at her and nodded. "I'm gonna talk to Dale tomorrow," he decided.

Beth shook her head though. "You don't have to do that," she said softly, stepping to him, a hand sliding over his that was on the cart's handlebar, and she knew how uncomfortable he always was with just thinking about talking to his boss.

"No, I do," his eyes stared into hers. "We need the money," he then said in a low voice so neither boy would be able to overhear. He never wanted them to hear about things like that.

"We do alright," Beth gave him quiet assurance.

"We can do better."

She hesitated a moment, looking up at him with her big Bambi eyes, and she then nodded her head. He turned his hand over so his thumb rubbed against the inside of her wrist and she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek.

They didn't talk about it anymore. They didn't talk about money or a possible third baby or anything other than if they wanted creamy or chunky peanut butter and what percentage of milk they should get.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and commenting! <strong>


	7. Handy Man

**I think this story is going to have ten chapters. Thank you so much to everyone who reads and reviews and is enjoying it. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Seven.**

"Beth, Daryl's gonna hold you down and I'm gonna shave all your hair," Merle called out from the bathroom. "You got any left on your head or is it all in this drain, girl?"

Beth continued playing the piano out in the living room. "I'm ignoring you, Merle!" She called back to him and he smirked.

Merle looked back to Daryl as he crouched in the bathtub, the access panel in the wall open and his hands working with the shower pipes behind the wall.

"Might be your hair clogging the drain, baby brother. It's gettin' kind of long," Merle noted as Daryl grunted something under his breath.

"You just jealous that I still got my hair," Daryl said.

"Careful now. I am holdin' a wrench in my hand," Merle smirked.

"Yeah, I need that," Daryl said, holding his hand out and Merle passed it to him.

He had gotten out two months earlier and Daryl had gone to pick him up from the jail in Atlanta before he brought him here to his home. Beth had already fixed the couch up for him and was making dinner and Luke and Hunter rushed to greet their Uncle Merle and it all felt so nice, Merle still couldn't believe that this was his brother's life and to some extension, his life, too. Dixons didn't have lives like this.

Both Daryl and Beth told him that he could stay as long as he needed but he shook his head. His brother might be one to come to a home like this every night with a pretty wife and kids clambering for their daddy's attention but it definitely wasn't him and after a couple of days, Merle moved into a house with a couple of buddies of his. He knew Daryl hadn't liked it but Merle hadn't really cared.

If he was being honest with himself, sometimes being around his brother and his family made him uncomfortable.

The back screen door opened and slapped shut again and seconds later, Luke came bursting into the small bathroom. "Is it fixed?" He asked, his cheeks flushed and hair slightly sweaty from running around in the Georgia humidity outside.

"Not yet," Daryl shook his head. "Wanna help me?"

Luke immediately climbed over Merle so he could get to the bathtub. He climbed in and Daryl let him stand in front of him, his arms reaching around him, back to the pipes. As he showed Luke how to loosen them with the pipe wrench and which one fed the shower head and which pipe the tub drained into, the pipe that was currently clogged with hair, Merle watched. He really had no idea where his brother had learned to be a dad like that. Not like they had any sort of father figure to learn shit like that from. It was unsettling because Daryl was just too damn good and who would have ever guessed that about a Dixon?

With a grunt, Merle pushed himself up, using the wall behind him as support. "I'm gonna get a beer," he said and left without asking if Daryl wanted one.

That was another thing about Daryl. He didn't like drinking around the kids.

In the living room, Beth was sitting at the piano, playing a song, stopping occasionally to write on the piece of sheet music with a pencil she kept tucked behind her ear, and Hunter was sitting on the floor, a few toys around him as he held onto his yellow baby blanket and sucked his thumb, listening to his mom play.

Something was cooking in the crock-pot on the counter and Merle grabbed a beer bottle from the inside door of the refrigerator before walking towards it.

"Don't you dare, Merle Dixon," Beth said just as he was about to lift the lid for a sniff. "You'll let all of the heat out. It'll be ready in a couple hours."

Merle just smirked and left the kitchen, going to sit on the couch in the living room. Hunter turned his head and smiled at him from around his thumb before looking back towards Beth as she continued playing some song she was writing and singing in her sweet voice.

After all this time, he still didn't understand this girl being with his brother but he stopped questioning it. It was just one of those things and they had a good marriage. Merle assumed it was good. He had never witnessed one himself but his baby brother seemed happy and Beth seemed to always be happy. She was like some damn Disney princess, all songs and sunshine. He still didn't really get how his brother had landed her as his wife but like he said. He didn't question it.

"I'm a little bit drunk/you're a little bit stoned/I'm a little bit restless/we're both alone tonight/Tonight/A blue buzz in the dark/A message in my ear/I'm pulling on my jeans and waiting for you to get here tonight/Tonight."

Merle smirked at what she was singing. "That's a hell of a song to be singin' in front of your baby," he commented.

Beth just smiled and kept playing the song. "It might sound better on the guitar," was all she said. She stopped then and took the pencil from behind her ear, writing something else down on the sheet music.

"Mama!" Luke exclaimed and ran into the room. "We cleared the drain!"

Beth turned and stood up from the piano bench and laughed when she saw Luke, water spots staining his shirt and his jeans. "What does your dad look like?" She said, still laughing as Daryl came from the bathroom next, rubbing a towel over his head.

"I'm agreein' with Merle," Daryl said. "We're shavin' your head, Beth. The amount of hair clogged in that drain was disgustin'."

Beth laughed still and came to him. She slipped her arms around his waist and stood up on her toes, popping a kiss on his lips. "I'm not going to shave my head when I know my handy man can handle it."

The tips of Daryl's ears turned red and she laughed softly before kissing him again.

"Let's go, Luke," Merle stood up, leaving the beer bottle on the coffee table though he knew Beth would lecture him again about using a damn coaster. He bent down and picked Hunter up on his way to the back door. "Show me your tree house," he said, wanting to get out of the house as quickly as could because the truth of the matter was, he didn't like seeing Daryl and Beth being all affectionate with one another.

Made him damn uncomfortable.

He liked their backyard. There was a chicken coop and Beth's vegetable garden and the deep freezer where his brother stored the meat he had hunted and a shed where all of his hunting gear and tools were kept. His brother had etched out a nice little life for himself and his family. And he knew a lot of it had to do with Beth. Daryl was a Dixon and while he might have been different from the rest of them, he was still a Dixon and Dixons didn't know that much about nice lives and what that meant or what had to be done to get one.

Daryl had always been the sweet one. The sensitive one. And Beth was a sweet girl, sweetest girl in the whole damn state, but Daryl was still a Dixon and Beth grew up in this town and would have known all about what it meant having that last name. But she went for him anyway and Daryl grabbed her up. His baby brother had always been smart, too.

Merle liked looking around their backyard because while he knew it was the sort of backyard he would never have – never _want_ – this was the exact kind of backyard Daryl deserved.

"Come on, Uncle Merle!" Luke exclaimed as he ran across the yard towards the tree in which Daryl had built him a tree house.

Merle smirked, wondering if he would ever get used to that. Then again, if Daryl had been able to get used to having a couple kids call him daddy, maybe being called uncle wasn't so ridiculous.

He bent over and put Hunter on his feet, the toddler immediately scampering off towards the chicken coop, probably off to terrorize the birds. Merle grinned. That one was definitely a Dixon.

He didn't know how Beth and Daryl did this. Luke kept calling out for him to watch as he climbed the rope ladder or slid down the pole and Hunter was starting to chew on the wire surrounding the coop in an attempt to get to the chickens. Merle went and snatched the kid up, nearly tossing him over his shoulder. He had just been watching them for five minutes and he felt exhausted and he was reminded of all of the reasons why he had never had any of his own.

"Mama wants another baby," Luke said as if he could read Merle's mind.

"Your mama's out of her damn mind," Merle frowned.

Luke giggled. "That's a dime, Uncle Merle," he said, referring to Beth's swear jar on the kitchen counter.

Merle just kept frowning though.

What the hell? Was Beth serious? She and Daryl couldn't have another kid. Did they have a money tree growing somewhere Merle didn't know about? Two kids was enough for anyone. And was Daryl going along with this? He knew that little woman had his brother by the balls.

Hunter was wiggling, kicking his legs, wanting to be put down and Merle did, the kid immediately taking off for the chicken coop again. The back screen door screamed open on its hinges and slapped shut again, Daryl stepping out.

"Think your boy's possessed," Merle informed him.

"Which one?" Daryl smirked a little, coming down the steps and crossing the yard towards him. He crouched down at Hunter and pried the toddler's fingers from the chicken wire and swooped him up in his arms. "Thanks for comin' and helpin' out," he then said to Merle.

Merle shrugged. "Beth promised me dinner." Daryl nodded his head and looked up to Luke in the tree house, seeming to be ignoring the way Hunter was wiggling in his arms like a fish. "You two ain't really gonna have another one, are you?"

Daryl's eyes cut back to him but he didn't seem surprised that he knew about it.

He then shook his head slightly. "Me and Beth talked about it. Don't think it's gonna happen. No money for a third. Hell. Hardly any money for two."

Merle stared at him. His little brother was almost sounding disappointed about that.

...

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><p><strong>Thank you very much and please review!<strong>


	8. We'll Be Good

**I have been writing Daryl/Beth non-stop for the past few weeks and I've made a decision. Unfortunately, I don't think I can update everyday anymore like I have been. I don't want to burn myself out and I think some of my updates are getting "lost". I hope everyone enjoys this chapter.**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Eight. **

This was her favorite time. Lying in his bed with his arms around her in the quietness of his bedroom, just the crickets chirping outside and no other sound except his soft breathing on the back of her neck. She loved him and when she could spend the night and have this with him, she fell in love with him all over again.

They had been doing this for a few months now – five because she was the sort of girl who counted that sort of thing – and she still wasn't entirely sure what they were doing. She knew she couldn't ask Daryl either, knowing he would have even fewer answers than she did. She wasn't the sort of girl to just sleep with a man without commitment or at least the promise of something but Daryl was different. She knew if most heard her or saw what she was doing, they would call her an idiot but she didn't care because deep down, she knew it was the truth.

She had fallen in love with Daryl Dixon the first moment she saw him.

She didn't know how he felt about her. She knew he liked her – or rather, she assumed he did. He didn't protest this thing they were doing but then again, what sort of man would really turn down a woman who was so willing to sleep with him?

Beth didn't want to think like that though. Daryl did like her. She knew he did.

She was able to spend the night. It was her parents' anniversary and she had told them that she would make herself scarce so they could have some alone time. The nights she could stay with Daryl were her favorite; the nights she never wanted to end and she wished she could just stay here with him for the rest of her life.

She had cooked them dinner – though Daryl was always telling her she didn't need to do things like that – and after, they had gone into his bedroom and they had made love. She didn't care what he thought. In her mind, it was definitely making love. And now, there was this. The after. Lying with him, both naked beneath the covers of the bed, his body curled around hers from behind and his arms wrapped around her as if he was making up for all of those years in his childhood where he had never had a stuffed animal.

She closed her eyes though she wasn't at all tired and she smiled to herself, feeling so ridiculously happy in that moment, she could almost start laughing, her smile stretching wider. A small giggle escaped her throat and Daryl, always a light sleep, stirred behind her.

"Wha' is it?" He asked, his voice rough and groggy.

Beth shook her head and turned just enough in his arms where she could look at him. "Nothing. I'm sorry I woke you. I was just thinking."

Daryl closed his eyes again and let out a yawn before resting his head down on her shoulder. "'bout what?" He mumbled.

"About all sorts of things," she said softly, looking at his face. He seemed so much younger when he was completely relaxed like this. She liked to think that she was the only one who had ever seen him like this.

He didn't ask any further questions but she knew he wasn't sleeping again. His breathing hadn't dropped off enough. She had even learned his breathing patterns.

She lifted her hand and her fingers brushed back some longer hair back from his forehead and he shifted closer to her in response. She smiled faintly and brushed her lips down the bridge of her nose. She loved him so much, it made her chest ache. She believed in soul mates and true love but she had never expected either of those things in her life to be with Daryl Dixon. But the instant she met him five months ago and they started this between them, she could never imagine anyone else.

"Daryl?" She said his name quietly and his eyes instantly opened, looking at her. She gave him a faint smile. "I know we're keeping this a secret right now and it's not really your kind of thing but Gareth asked me to sing tomorrow night at the coffee shop and I was hoping… maybe you would want to come and watch? Maybe?"

She had been thinking of ways to ask him all evening and now that she had actually gotten the words out and he just looked at her, she felt no less nervous.

And she wasn't surprised when he shook his head slightly but it didn't mean it didn't hurt. She knew he didn't want anyone to know about them; that deep down, he was probably ashamed that he was sleeping with someone like her but she had still been hoping that maybe, he would change his mind, just for one night.

"It wouldn' look right if I was there," he said in his low voice, his eyes looking into hers. "Never been into that coffee shop before and there'd be no reason for me be in there now."

"Okay," Beth swiftly cut him off. Daryl kept staring at her but she quickly averted her eyes. "It's okay, Daryl. I knew you wouldn't want to go." She did her best to give a smile and she squeezed his arm though she still wasn't looking at him. "I have to go to the bathroom," she then said and began to sit up but his arms were still around her. "Daryl," she said his name and smiled a little easier now and he seemed convinced because his arms loosened enough where she could get from the bed.

She slipped on her underwear and grabbed the shirt he had been wearing earlier, slipping that on as well and she felt him watching her but she didn't look back as she left the bedroom and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She turned on the faucet so he couldn't hear her and she closed her eyes, leaning against the wall. She didn't want to cry even if it was the only thing she felt like doing right now. She didn't know why she was so upset. She knew he would answer like that.

This was how it was between them and maybe, it was how it would always be.

She gave and gave and gave and he never gave her much in return.

…

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><p>Gareth had a small platform set up with a stool and a microphone that sometimes, people would read poems or short stories or play their songs from and tonight was the first night he had ever asked her to get up on that platform. Maggie and Shawn were there and her parents had just happened to stop by, her mom claiming she needed an Earl Grey tea, and even Lori was there with her husband, Sheriff Grimes.<p>

It was a small set, just five songs – three covers and two she had written herself. She was ending with one she had written and as she stood behind the microphone with her guitar, her fingers plucking the strings and her voice singing the words softly, she heard the door open and she was so proud of herself for not faltering in her singing when she looked and saw who it was.

He was there. He was actually there. Daryl had come.

She continued playing and singing and he stood for a moment, near the door as if he wanted to make a quick exit, and their eyes locked with one another with the coffee shop between them. He didn't stop watching her as he went to the counter and ordered something and she moved her eyes away to not make it so obvious that she was watching him. It had probably taken so much for him to get himself here and she didn't want to ruin it and give anything away.

He returned to the door with his cup of coffee as if he was going to leave but instead, he turned back and continued watching her.

"You don't wanna be my boyfriend/and that's probably for the best./Because that, that gets messy/and you will hurt me/or I'll disappear./So we will drink beer all day/and our guards will give way/and we'll be good/And we'll be good."

She forced herself to move her eyes from him again to look over everyone else there and when she sang the last note and strummed the last string, everyone broke out into applause and cheers, Shawn being the loudest, and Beth laughed softly and blushed, giving a little curtsy, feeling an elation bubble in her chest.

When she looked back to the door, she expected him to be gone but he still stood there, looking at her. His face was blank and she had no idea what he was thinking; if he liked the song she had written because if he was thinking it was about them, he was right. She had written it just that morning. Did he know that? What did he think of it? But then he gave her the slightest head nod and she smiled a little before he turned and left the coffee shop again.

…

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><p>She wasn't able to come see him again until two days later and when she got to his house, his bike was there but he wasn't which meant he was probably out hunting. She didn't have a key so she sat down on the steps at the back porch and waited.<p>

She loved being out here in the woods, loving that he lived in the middle of nowhere and there were no sounds but the wind through the leaves and birds chirping. She never wondered why he lived out here away from the rest of the world. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up towards the sun, feeling it warm her face and she smiled. When she opened her eyes again, she jumped a little, seeing him now in the backyard, having not heard him approach, but she wasn't surprised. He was silent when he was out in the woods.

She gave him a small smile. "Hi."

"You been waitin' long?" He asked.

"I don't think so," she shook her head and stood up. "Catch anything good?"

It was his turn to shake his head and he slung the crossbow strap onto his shoulder. "Just walkin' more than huntin'," he said. He looked at her. "Didn't expect you today," he said after a moment.

"I can go," she shrugged, hoping she looked nonchalant. She was very much aware that Daryl was a solitary man. "Don't want to always be bothering you."

He frowned at that and took a step towards her. "You don't," he said quietly. "And you don't have to go unless you want. I usually clean up a bit before you come if I know you're comin'," he explained and she smiled a little at that. "You sounded great the other night," he said and the compliment made the tips of his ears red.

Beth burst into a smile. "Thank you. I'm so glad you came. I can't tell you how much it meant to me to have you there." She looked at him. "Did you like the song?"

"That about us?" He asked and she nodded. He nodded, too. "I figured." He was quiet for a minute and then asked, "You think I'm gonna hurt you?"

"I think you're a good man and you will never _want_ to hurt me," she answered.

Daryl stared at her and didn't say anything else. He was looking at her like he was studying her. He then nodded slightly. "We should go in. I went to the store yesterday and made you a key of your own for the house."

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	9. Birds and Bees

**I know this story isn't nearly as popular as _House Call_ is/was, but writing this just makes me so insanely happy. I can't end it at ten chapters. I just can't. And I know I said I wasn't going to update every day anymore but this chapter kind of just flew out of me.**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Nine. **

It wasn't as if he was intimidated by Dale. It was just he had a lot of respect for the man and didn't feel like pissing him off. Dale had been the only one in this town who had taken a chance on him years before even with the last name of Dixon and Daryl had worked as hard as he could; to prove himself as much as he could to show the man he hadn't made a mistake in hiring him.

Dale was sipping a cup of coffee and eating a glazed donut behind his desk when he gestured for Daryl to come into his office and shut the door. Daryl sat down in the chair across from him on the other side of his desk, his hands feeling sweaty as he wiped the palms on the thighs of his jeans.

Daryl didn't say anything as Dale finished his donut and wiped his mouth with a napkin. The phone began ringing but he ignored it.

"Is everything alright?" Dale asked, knowing Daryl wasn't the sort to request a meeting of sorts with him.

Daryl nodded and was quiet for another moment more. He didn't want to do this. He didn't know _how_ to do this. He didn't feel comfortable at all, being here, about to ask this man for more money. He thought the hardest thing he had ever done was going to the bank with Beth and getting a loan for their truck. He was a Dixon and they didn't take money from anyone unless they earned it. And if Dale didn't think he had earned more money, then he shouldn't be asking for more.

But this wasn't about him. This was about Beth and their kids and he was a Dixon. He was determined to show that Dixons _could_ take care of their family.

He took a deep breath. "I was hopin' to talk to you about my paycheck," he said.

Dale raised an eyebrow. "Pay day is next Thursday," he said.

"Yeah," Daryl nodded his head and looked down to his hands.

"You need an advance?" Dale asked and couldn't hide his surprise. In all of the years he worked here, Daryl was the only mechanic he had who never asked for one.

"No," Daryl shook his head, still looking down at his hands. "Beth and I've been talkin'… she wants another baby but we don't have the money for one."

"Ah." Dale's eyes gleamed as he gave his head a nod. Now he understood.

"Beth hasn't mentioned it again but I figured I would come and talk to you 'bout it." Daryl swallowed the lump lodged in his throat. "Maybe workin' with you to figure out if anythin' can be done about the money thing."

Dale leaned back in his seat and took a sip from his coffee cup. Daryl looked as if he was about to throw up, the man not able to meet his eyes since he had sat down. He knew Daryl was so far out of his element right now. The other guys in the shop, they had no problem talking to Dale, either asking for more money or for an advance of what was going to be in their paycheck. He owned a small auto garage in a small Georgia town. It wasn't as if he was rolling in money but he did his best to take care of the guys working for him as long as they worked hard for him.

Years earlier, his wife, before her death, had wondered if he had lost his mind when he told her he had hired Daryl Dixon as his first mechanic for his new garage. And he did admit, it had been a bit crazy on his part. Daryl Dixon's name preceded him and most lumped him into the same category as his father and older brother. But at his job interview, Dale had him fix the engine of the ancient RV he had sitting out back and when Daryl had done it in record time, Dale hired him on the spot.

He had hired other mechanics later on – Caesar, Oscar and Zach – but Daryl had always been the best. His pride and joy, so to speak, and if someone brought a car into the garage that needed a ton of work, Daryl was always the one to get it and Dale didn't doubt for a second that he would be able to fix it.

"Do you know if there's any extra work? Any other garage that might need an extra mechanic? I could work between the two," Daryl said, lifting his eyes, looking at Dale for only a moment before lowering his eyes again.

Dale smiled a little and shook his head. "You think I'm going to just let competition of mine have my best mechanic?" He asked. Daryl's eyes lifted to look at him. Dale just kept on smiling. "I should have done it a long time ago and I'm sorry I didn't."

Daryl frowned a little. "Done what?"

"You've been here since the day I opened and you're the best mechanic I have," Dale informed him. He turned towards his computer, hitting a key to wake it up.

Daryl sat, not moving a muscle as Dale looked at something on his screen and then picking up a pencil, he wrote something on a yellow post-it. Dale extended it towards him and Daryl leaned forward to take the piece of paper from him.

"Now, I know it's not that much but it's what I can afford to give you right now. I know you deserve a hell of a lot more," Dale said.

Daryl said nothing. He kept staring down at the number Dale had written down. He then slowly looking at him.

"What is this?" Daryl asked softly, his voice hoarse as if he hadn't used it in months.

"A raise," Dale answered with a smile. "Now, if that baby's another boy, you think about naming him Dale, you hear?"

…

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><p>Daryl was silent as he drove Beth and the boys back home from work but Beth didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Daryl was always practically silent.<p>

Inside, Luke ran right outside again to play in his tree house before dinner and Hunter was going through a phase now where he wanted Beth to hold him all of time, whimpering if she even thought about putting him down. She held him balanced on her hip as she filled a pot with water and then tried to lift it with one hand. Daryl saw and frowned, coming up to her and hefting it onto the stove.

"Thank you," she smiled up at him. "Are you okay?" She then asked, a hand lifting up to his cheek.

He nodded, his eyes looking down to the floor. He reached into his back pants pocket and pulled out the yellow post-it that Dale had handed him earlier that afternoon.

"What's this?" Beth asked as he handed it to her.

He didn't say anything until after she looked down at the number. "I talked with Dale today," he said, watching her face as she took the figure in. "Gave me a raise."

As soon as the words left his mouth, she gasped and her head flew up from looking down at the piece of paper to look at him.

"What?" She almost choked on the breath she had inhaled – too much and too quickly at once.

"I talked with Dale," he said again. "He said he was sorry it couldn' be more."

He watched as Beth's eyes flooded with tears, her mouth still hanging open in shock. "You talked with Dale?" She asked, sounding breathless and in shock; as if she could hardly believe it.

He nodded and swallowed. He looked down at the piece of paper still in her hand and then to Hunter on her hip and then to her. "Now I can take better care of this family," he told her quietly.

"Daryl," she said his name gently, softly. "You already take the best care of us." She pushed herself up and pressed her lips to his. "And you're an idiot for thinking you don't," she said and he smirked a little at that but it faded as he looked at her.

Her hair was falling from the ponytail she had pulled it back into that day and Hunter was sucking on a strand of it and she had a streak of pink paint on the side of her neck from craft time that she hadn't wiped cleaned. She looked tired after the day of work and disheveled but they had been together for a few years now and he still knew there wasn't anyone – or anything for that matter – in the world prettier than her. And a few years later and he still thought she was the one who was an idiot.

When he had asked her to marry him, he had told her that this was how it would be. He didn't have money then and he probably never would. And there hadn't been a single day where Beth had complained about their financial situation. He knew she wanted a third kid and she also knew they couldn't afford it so she didn't mention it again. She didn't make him feel guilty about it. Daryl knew he did that well enough on his own.

They sat down at the table for dinner and Daryl scooped Luke a plate of the spaghetti and Beth passed out the pieces of garlic bread.

"Dale said that if our third is a boy, we should consider his name," Daryl said.

Beth laughed slightly. "I've never wished for a girl more."

Daryl smirked a little and shook his head. "Me neither," he said.

Beth looked at him and her lips melted into a soft smile. It was really the first time he had mentioned the possibility of a third child or what he even thought of it. He looked at her and smiled a little, too, before bending over and picking up the sip-a-cup of milk Hunter had just shoved off his highchair tray onto the floor.

"Where do babies come from?" Luke asked as he took a big bite of garlic bread. He smiled bashfully at Beth as she gave him a look for talking with his mouth full.

"What did Mrs. Lori tell you when you asked her?" Beth reminded him.

Luke only frowned though and looked at Daryl. "Then how come there aren't more birds that look like bees or bees that look like birds?" He asked.

Daryl snorted into his plate of spaghetti and said nothing.

"Luke, when you're older, _much_ older, and you fall in love with a girl and she falls in love with you, together, you two can make a baby if you want," Beth explained.

Luke screwed his face up as if he had never heard anything more disgusting but he looked back and forth between Daryl and Beth. "So, you two made Hunter 'cause you love each other?"

Beth nodded and smiled. "That's right."

"My first mom and dad didn't love each other," Luke then stated matter-of-factly. "They were always yelling about killing each other. Where'd I come from then?"

Daryl looked at Beth and she looked absolutely stricken. She was never good when Luke talked about his life before he was adopted by them and became a Dixon; especially the way the boy always spoke about everything so nonchalantly.

Daryl cleared his throat, knowing he'd have to take the lead on this one. "My parents didn' love each other neither," he said. "But good things can sometimes come from all that hate."

Luke was quiet as he crunched on his garlic bread and thought that over. Hunter let out a happy squeal as he slurped noodles up between his lips, spaghetti sauce getting everywhere on his face. Daryl moved his eyes from Luke to look at Beth. She was staring at him and she looked like she was about to cry but she was smiling at the same time.

She nodded just slightly. "The best things," she agreed and his lips twitched in a small smile, too, as he felt the tips of his ears turn red.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	10. Charity

**Thank you so much for all the kind words in regards to this story. I'm glad so many of you love it as much as I love writing it. And thank you a thousand times to SlamBam04 for her help with this chapter.**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Ten. **

The four of them sat in a booth at the diner, Rick and Beth sitting across from one another against the window and Daryl and the social worker Rick had brought with him, Michonne, sitting across from one another, Michonne next to Rick and Daryl next to Beth. Beth and Michonne had ordered waters and Daryl and Rick had ordered Cokes and their waitress, Amy, came to set them down on the table before giving them all a smile and pulling out her ordering pad.

"What can I get you guys?" She asked.

They all ordered cheeseburgers and fries and after writing it down, Amy hurried away to go see to her boyfriend, Zach, who had just entered and had sat down at the counter, flashing her a smile.

"Thank you for wanting to meet us," Beth spoke first.

"Rick has talked about you a lot," Michonne said. "I was very interested in finally talking with you both."

"Rick said that you had something you would like to talk with us about," Beth nodded, giving her a small, warm smile.

"How long since you've adopted Luke?" Michonne asked, knowing that Beth was the one to address her questions to. She had just met Daryl Dixon but he was obviously the sort of man who would rather sit there and stare at her from across the table as if he didn't trust her and let his wife do all the talking.

"It's been a little over two years. Our biological son was just a few months old when Rick got the paperwork started for us," Beth said. "We didn't have a social worker or adoption agency helping us. Rick was our liaison with everything. He got us the paperwork and filed it for us and did everything for us that needed to be done." She smiled across the table at the Sheriff who just shrugged and looked to Michonne.

"I've told you," Rick said. "They're good people."

Michonne nodded. She had read over the folder with all of Luke Ridgeway's – now Luke Dixon – information and had seen the before pictures and the after pictures of the boy. She could only imagine how healthy he looked now that he had been with his new family for over two years.

"Anyone who even thinks of adopting are good people," Michonne smiled a little and Beth smiled in response. "But with Rick running the adoption for you, I know there is something that he's probably not aware of so he couldn't inform you both. There is a program that you would qualify for. The Adoption Assistance Program," she said. "AAP and unlike a lot of other assistance programs, this has absolutely nothing to do with your incomes."

Daryl crossed his arms over his chest and finally spoke. "Assistance?" He grunted.

"The Government found out that adoptions had dropped down significantly because so many people found that adoption was too expensive. Kids were just staying in foster care instead of being placed into "forever" homes. AAP was started as a way to encourage adoption and to help everyone out.

"With Luke, you could receive $1500 a month. It would be a bit more if he was challenged or handicapped in some way but for a perfectly healthy boy like Luke, it would be $1500," Michonne explained.

Daryl just stared at her and Beth's brow furrowed as if she was confused.

"$1500 a month?" She whispered as if such a number was completely foreign to her.

"That's right," Michonne nodded.

Beth looked to Daryl but he was staring at Michonne, frowning.

"No," Daryl then said, simple and firm.

Michonne raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Beth didn't seem surprised and neither did Rick.

"I'm not enterin' some assistance program," Daryl said and he said the word assistance as if it was bitter on his tongue. "Luke's my kid and I can take care of my kid without someone givin' me money."

Michonne just kept staring at him. "This isn't like other assistance programs like welfare or food stamps," she said again. "This has absolutely nothing to do with you. This $1500 is about Luke."

Amy arrived then with a tray of their burgers and fries and set the four plates down in front of them and left after she asked if they needed anything else. Rick shook his head, watching Daryl and Michonne as they kept staring at one another, and opened his mouth to say something.

"Your wife is pregnant again," Michonne then stated.

Rick's eyes instantly whipped to Beth, who's eyes widened at the statement. She and Daryl obviously hadn't told anyone yet as she was only a couple of months along. They had just found out themselves earlier that month.

"I can tell. She has that glow," Michonne then explained, looking to Beth before back at Daryl. "I know you and Beth don't have a lot of money. I'm sure you make enough to squeak by every month and you obviously love your kids and do what you can for them but why sit here and squeak by when you can give them a bit more each month? $1500 a month would help a lot with three kids, don't you think?"

Daryl was silent, still staring at her, his jaw slightly clenched.

"Are you?" Rick asked softly.

Beth looked to him and nodded slowly. "We've been talking about it and… and Dale just gave him a small raise at the garage. We thought it would be a good time to start trying. Apparently, we just needed three tries to get it," she then blushed a little.

"Congratulations, you two," Rick said genuinely and Beth couldn't help but smile.

She had been so excited when she had gone into the bathroom to take the pregnancy test. She and Daryl had just started trying – though their trying wasn't any different than any other way they made love – and she was already late. She had told Daryl what she was doing and he had looked momentarily stunned before he was quick to take the boys outside and distract them for a while.

When she came outside on the back porch fifteen minutes later, she hadn't been able to act nonchalant. Her smile had exploded over her face and had stayed there and Daryl took one look at her and knew. He came to her and his hands slid over her hips and she laughed and cried simultaneously as he pulled her into his arms, lifting her up like he had done when she told him she was pregnant with Hunter and she felt his arms squeeze around her and his lips curve into a smile against her neck.

They decided not to tell anyone until the end of the first trimester. Beth already had a small bump – her small body always making it so obvious she was pregnant sooner than most woman – and she wore too-big shirts at the moment to hide it.

Beth wondered – if she did have a glow, which she didn't doubt she did – how Michonne was the first to notice or maybe she wasn't and she was just the first to say it out loud.

"This isn't charity," Michonne was back to staring at Daryl. "And you're not the first person to sit across from me and act like it is. This is about your son."

Beth looked to Daryl who was staring at Michonne. Most people, if they had Daryl Dixon staring at them, tended to look at least a little bit intimidated but Michonne just stared back at him with a somewhat impressive stare of her own.

Beth decided to break the staring contest between her husband and the social worker. "Can Daryl and I discuss it and come talk with you once we've made a decision?" She asked.

Daryl was the one to look away, turning his head to Beth, frowning at her. She just kept looking at Michonne however and Michonne looked at her, giving her a small smile and a head nod.

"Of course."

…

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><p>Daryl hadn't spoken all night. After leaving the diner, they went to the farm to get Luke and Hunter, who were being watched by their grandparents, and they stayed for a few hours before returning home. In all that time, Daryl hadn't said one word.<p>

Beth had explained to her parents what was going on and why their son-in-law was more sour than usual and since they knew Daryl, both Hershel and Annette had nodded with perfect understanding.

After getting home, they got the boys into their pajamas and Beth sang them a song and left them, dozing in their beds. Daryl didn't stay in the house. Instead, he grabbed his crossbow from the closet and stomped out the back door. Beth sighed and went after him.

"Daryl Dixon, don't be stupid," she snapped at him from the top step of the porch.

He stopped but didn't turn around to look at her.

"You can't go hunting in the dark," she said though she knew that wasn't necessarily true in regards to the man she married. He could track anything no matter the conditions. Weather or lack of light, be damned. "Michonne says it's not charity."

That had Daryl spinning around, his frown heavy. "The government doesn't give you $1500 a month unless you're too poor or too lazy and can't get it yourself. What the hell else would you call it, Beth, if it's not charity?"

"This isn't about you, Daryl," she said, reminding herself to stay calm. "This is about Luke. It's about Hunter, too, and the one who's not even here yet. It's just a bit of help to make sure Luke gets the best life possible."

"And you're sayin' he's not gettin' that without money bein' handed to us?" Daryl's frown, somehow, grew even heavier.

Beth sighed and gave him her own frown. "That's not what I'm saying at all, Daryl. You're twisting my words and you know it. You can be such a stubborn ass sometimes," she said.

"I'm a stubborn ass 'cause I want to be the one who takes care of my family?" He took a step towards her.

"And you do take care of us! No one is saying you don't!" She exclaimed, her voice echoing into the quiet night air. "It's like Michonne said. This isn't about you. Or me. This is about Luke and our other kids. It's about giving them what they need."

"They have everythin' they need," Daryl all but growled. "Look at you. Someone waves money in front of your face and you're actin' like we haven't been gettin' along fine without it."

She stared at him, momentarily stunned. "Have I ever, once, said anything to you about money? In all the time we've been together? You can't think that I'm all about money when I have _never_ acted like that," she said, her face growing warm with her anger.

"I'm thinkin' that if you think I can't take care of those kids, you should 'ave married Jimmy or someone else. Someone's who's able to," Daryl said in a low voice.

Beth blinked at him for a moment and then dropped her arms from where she had them folded across her chest. "You are such an ass, Daryl Dixon," she snapped and then turned, storming back into the house.

Daryl didn't follow after her. He and Beth didn't fight often but when they did, he knew they both needed to go into their own corners for a while. And right now, Daryl couldn't be around her. He needed to stomp away and fume and catch his breath and go shoot a bolt through something.

He turned and disappeared into the darkness of the woods. Beth was right. For most people, it would have been too dark to do anything but Daryl Dixon knew these woods like the back of his hand. He didn't need something like light. He didn't pay attention to where he was walking but he didn't worried about getting lost. No matter where he wound up, he would always be able to get back home. And he would get home sometime that night. He wasn't like his old man who disappeared for days or weeks on end. His kids would never be able to say that their dad had gone off on a bender and would get home whenever he damned well pleased.

His kids would always be able to say that their dad did everything he could to take care of them. Dixons always took care of their own.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	11. Cotton Underwear

**Thank you so much for your support of this story. It means so, so much to me. This story is still told in the non-linear format as I told _House Call_ in but there is still a storyline I am trying to tell. Just a couple of quick notes: I will explain as to why Beth tried to kill herself in this particular universe since both Annette and Shawn are still alive and also, I love that some of you have picked up on Hunter being a bit of a brat - because he is lol **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Eleven. **

She had met Sasha when they were in a few of the same classes at the community college and became good friends. Such good friends that when Sasha moved to Savannah for her new job, she let Beth use her as an excuse as often as she needed. Sasha knew she was seeing someone but Beth wouldn't tell her who no matter how many times she asked. Beth just needed her to use the same story she always told her parents – I'm off to visit Sasha for the night! – and then she would be free to spend the night with the guy she was seeing.

Sasha admitted that she liked covering for Beth as she did something like sneak around with a guy behind everyone's backs. It was just so un-like Beth and Sasha liked knowing that Beth was rebelling a little and doing something no one would ever expect her to do. Everyone thought they had Beth Greene pegged. Sasha admitted that she thought she did, too, before she even knew the blonde sweet farm girl. But Beth could certainly surprise the hell out of anyone if she wanted.

It was Friday evening and Beth had told her parents the same thing. Except this time, instead of for just the night, Beth was "staying in Savannah with Sasha" for the whole weekend. It wasn't as if she liked lying to her parents. She hated doing it as a matter of fact but she reminded herself that this was the only way she could spend any time with Daryl until they – mainly he – was ready to stop keeping them and this relationship – if that's what it was – a secret.

Daryl had given her a key to his house two months earlier and Beth tried to not use it too often, not wanting to abuse it, always worrying that she was annoying him somehow. He never said it or acted like it and Beth told herself that she was just worrying over something silly but she couldn't help it. She had been seeing Daryl for a half a year now but she still worried of how she acted around him. He was the first adult man she had ever been with and she didn't want to mess it up because she had done something stupid; something that reminded him she was younger than him.

He wasn't home yet when she let herself into the house. She first went to the bedroom to drop her bag off and to take off her shoes, pulling on a pair of thick wool socks. Daryl had hard wood floors with just a couple of rugs here and there and her feet were always cold when she was staying there.

She then took the other bag she had brought with her and went into the kitchen. She had stopped off at the grocery store and had picked up a few things for the weekend. She was just starting to unpack the bag when she heard the roar of the motorcycle outside and she smiled to herself, her cheeks already feeling warm.

She could definitely get used to this.

When he entered through the front door, he knew she was there but he stopped anyway to look at her, standing in the kitchen, a paper brown grocery bag on the table and a sweet smile on her face. He almost looked behind him to see if maybe she was waiting for someone else.

"Hi," she then greeted.

He remembered himself after a moment. "Hey," he grunted, closing the door behind him, taking off his jacket and tossing it onto the couch.

He knew she was coming that night – she had mentioned it a couple of nights earlier before she left – but it still felt so weird to him to walk into the house and have the lights on and the air already smelling like vanilla like her. He gave her the key so she could come over whenever she wanted but he had never shared his house with anyone before and he didn't know if he would ever be used to it.

Without saying anything for the time being, he went into his bedroom. Her coat was on the chair and her shoes were neatly on the floor beside it. Her bag was on the bed and he stood there, staring at it for a moment as if he had never seen it before even though it was the same bag she brought every other time she was spending the night. He stared at it as if he was waiting for it to get up and start dancing.

He glanced over his shoulder, hearing her in the kitchen, humming to herself as she put away whatever groceries she had bought for them and then he looked back to the gym bag. He slowly approached it as if it was a doe he didn't want to scare away.

It was already unzipped – he had noticed the wool socks on her feet she had already pulled on – and he knew it wasn't right but he couldn't help himself. He peeked inside, his fingers moving things inside just enough to see what she brought. Her usual stuff. Clothes to wear, bottles of shampoo and conditioner, her toothbrush. He wondered why she didn't just leave this stuff here instead of bringing it with her every time.

When his fingers touched something soft and slippery, he frowned and couldn't help but form a grip around it, curiously pulling it from the bag. It was black silk with two little straps and white lace at the bottom. It was like a dress. A very short, thin dress.

Daryl frowned the longer he held it up and looked at it. Beth had brought lingerie with her? He recognized it as being one of those things women would wear in one of Merle's magazines – right before they were completely naked in the next picture. Why the hell did Beth have this? She had never had anything like this before.

She was getting closer now but he was still holding up the scrap of silk, not able to put it down. Her humming abruptly cut off when she entered the bedroom and saw what he was holding.

"Oh," she said and he turned to look at her. He could see her face had exploded in a blush and she was looking at him, embarrassment clear on her face. "I… you weren't supposed to see that. Not yet. I was going to surprise you."

"Why?" Daryl looked at her and he felt like frowning.

Beth didn't need things like that and he didn't want her to wear things like that. Silk and lace weren't her. She wore white cotton bras and matching cotton underwear and he had never seen anything better than that. She didn't need that other stuff.

Merle had dragged him to his fair share of strip clubs and had always left his nude magazines lying around everywhere, even had a few posters hanging up. Daryl had looked but he hadn't really cared. He admitted, it never really interested him and it got to the point where if he saw one naked woman, he saw them all.

He wasn't a virgin the first time he was with Beth – Merle made sure of that on every birthday he had after his eighteenth, sending a girl his way – but he might as well have been. He didn't have much experience and he wasn't really looking to get any.

But then Beth came into his life – practically forced her way in – and he crouched down in front of her, wiping oil from her cheek as she looked up at him, smiling and her big eyes practically sparkling. She was the prettiest girl he had ever seen and when she kissed him and he kissed her back and they fell into his bed, he started peeling her clothes off and he looked at every inch of her he could; looked as if he had never seen a naked woman before.

That day and every day after that when he stripped her down, he saw the cotton bra and underwear she was wearing and he felt his mouth go dry and his pants tighten almost immediately. Every single time. No matter how many times he saw her without clothes on, in just her underwear, he knew, deep down, it would never be enough times. For the first time in his life, he couldn't get enough of another person.

He looked at the silk and then at her, seeing that her face was still red but her eyes were still on him no matter how embarrassed she was.

She shrugged her shoulders just slightly. "I just wanted to show you…" she struggled to find the right words to explain herself.

She knew why she had bought the negligee when she saw it in the store. She had never owned anything like it before and had never even thought to own something like it but seeing it, she could only think of Daryl and she tried to imagine his reaction when she surprised him with it. She had expected him to be surprised; not have him frowning at the sight of it.

She took a deep breath. "I wanted to show you that I was a woman. Not some girl in stupid cotton underwear."

She almost wished she could take the words back. The explanation had sounded so much better in her head. But it was too late now. She had said it, had put it out there in the universe, and Daryl was just staring at her. She opened her mouth to say more but she really had absolutely no idea what to say past that.

Daryl looked as he tossed the negligee back onto her bag and then he looked at her. He didn't say a word as he came to stand in front of her. She tilted her chin up and looked at him, wishing he would say something; not too sure what she wanted him to say and Daryl probably didn't know either. He was so terrible with words sometimes but that was one of the things she loved about him. She sometimes felt like she talked too much and Daryl didn't talk enough and it all balanced itself out.

Daryl stared into her eyes and nowhere else as his hands snaked around to her back. His fingers found the zipper on the back of her dress, fumbling for a moment before he was able to grasp it and pull it down, slowly, the quiet hiss of the zipper the only sound in the room as they stared at one another and didn't say a word. She brushed the thin straps from her shoulders and the dress fell down her body with a hushed whoosh, it landing in a pool of fabric around her feet.

And as always, she was wearing a white cotton bra and yellow cotton panties. She blushed because it wasn't even matching and she felt embarrassed all over again. She hadn't thought of it this morning when she had gotten dressed but weren't _women_ supposed to care about things like this? Matching bras and underwear?

Daryl moved his eyes from her and stared down at what she was wearing. His look was heated and intense and dark and a thousand other things she couldn't decipher – yet – and it all nearly made her shiver.

His fingertips brushed across one strap of the bra on her shoulder and then skimmed down her arm. "This is all you need," he then said in his low voice.

And Beth nearly shivered again. No one would ever believe her if she told them how romantic Daryl Dixon could be and just how much she loved him.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you so much for reading and please review!<strong>


	12. Keep Reminding Me

**I just wanted to say a quick thank you - a huge thank you - to everyone reading this story and loving it and commenting on it. I have a few more things planned for it so I'm thinking it might be twenty chapters. Thank you, thank you, thank you!**

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Twelve.**

Daryl slept on the couch and the next morning, he wasn't surprised when Beth told him she was taking the boys with her to the farm for a while. He didn't stop her or put up another fight. All of the fight was out of him and when it was just him in their house, nothing but the quiet deafening in his ears, he wondered how he had lived so long out here without anything besides the woods around him making noise.

He had gotten used to it. To Beth playing the piano or singing songs with everything she did. To the television on – Luke was going through a _The Simpsons_ phase and Homer's d'oh! could constantly be heard, it seemed. And to Hunter being Hunter, being a terror as he ran from room to room, causing havoc in a trail behind him. Without them, without his family there, it was too damn quiet for him.

He sat on the edge of the couch, rubbing the back of his head, yawning because although he had gotten some sleep, it hadn't been the best sleep – not even close. His mind had been racing all night. To take the money, to not take the money, being pissed at himself, at Beth, even at Rick for bringing that social worker around them.

He finally stood up, grunting as he did, and he headed straight for the coffee machine on the kitchen counter. He fixed himself a pot and then grabbed the loaf of bread, plugging the toaster in. He looked out the window over the kitchen sink as he waited. He couldn't add another room onto the back of the house and building up was a pain in the ass and while he could build, even he didn't trust himself to do that. He pushed himself from the counter and looked around the small kitchen and living room. Right there. That could work.

He went to the wall of the living room and carefully moved the television stand away from it. He looked at it for a moment and ran his hand over the smooth plaster. That could work. He could cut the door right here and add the room onto the other side of the house. They'd have to rearrange the furniture but Beth would probably love that. Yeah. That could definitely work.

He drank a cup of coffee and ate his piece of toast and he watched the clock on the microwave. He had to take a shower and put on some clean clothes before he went to the farm. He didn't want to show up to see Beth smelling and stinking like the woods. Normally, Beth could care less about that but he wasn't going to show up and apologize to his wife smelling like blood and deer guts.

And he was going to apologize. He had to. Because some of what he had said to her last night, it had been shit he never should have said, let alone think, because that was exactly what it was. Shit. None of it was true. Of course he didn't think all she cared about was money. Hell, she had spent the past few years showing him that money was the last thing she cared about. If it wasn't, she sure as hell never would have married his poor ass.

He knew why she wanted that money. They were going to have three kids and with the raise Dale had given him, it definitely helped but money would still be tight. But now, with this AAP program, maybe they could be comfortable from now on. Not rich by any means but maybe not as dirt poor as they had been living.

He took a quick shower, still smelling the scent of Beth's blueberry soap hanging in the air, and he changed into jeans and a clean flannel shirt before grabbing his jacket and the keys to the truck and leaving the house. It was a cool fall day, an early bite of winter in the air already. He drove from the woods and through town, heading towards his in-laws' farm, his stomach tightening more and more the closer he got.

The farm had been in the Greene family for generations and Hershel, ready to retire from it for good and live the rest of his life in easy peace, was slowly beginning to hand the reigns over to Maggie. Of his three children, Maggie had been the only one to express interest in taking over the family business so to speak. Shawn had absolutely no desire to stay on the farm in their small town and was living the bachelor's life in Atlanta and Beth had her own life now – with him and their kids – and had always been more interested in writing her own music and singing her songs. Hershel had actually talked to Daryl once about helping Maggie – fifty-fifty – but Daryl had declined as politely as he could. He knew absolutely nothing about farm work, his hands meant to be working on engines and machines.

He parked the truck next to Beth's car and climbed the front steps, pulling open the screen door and entering the house. He immediately noted how quiet it was so he knew the boys were out – probably out in the barn with Maggie and Otis. He heard someone moving in the kitchen and he took a deep breath, walking towards the back of the house, preparing himself for Beth to ignore him, but it was Hershel instead, finishing washing the dishes from a late breakfast.

Daryl stood for a moment, feeling nervous. Hershel was a good man and one of the first to accept him and Beth. The only one for a while to accept them. And Daryl respected the hell out of him. He knew Hershel looked to him as another son but the truth was, Beth was his daughter – his actual blood – and if she was hurting, Hershel would raise hell to hurt those that had hurt her.

Hershel heard him and glanced at him from over his shoulder. He then turned the water off and grabbed a dishtowel, turning around to look at him, wiping his hands.

"The boys are out in the barn. Maggie's getting ready to take Luke out on one of the horses. And Beth's upstairs in her room," Hershel told him.

Daryl nodded but he didn't make a move. He stood there, waiting for the lecture he was positive was coming.

And Hershel, as if reading his mind, shook his head with a slight smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "This is between you and Beth, Daryl," he told him. "It's none of my business. You're just lucky Annette had a garden club meeting after church."

Daryl nodded and did his best not to let out a sign of relief. His mother-in-law would not hesitate in slapping him up the back of his head.

He gave Hershel a look and a nod of thanks before turning and heading towards the stairs. The door to Beth's bedroom was closed and he knocked softly. She didn't answer though and he slowly twisted the knob and pushed it open. She was lying on her bed, her back turned towards him but even if he couldn't get a look at her face, he knew she had been crying. He could sense it.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind. He approached the bed, his steps silent and he slowly turned to sit on the edge so he could take his boots off. He then turned himself around and laid himself behind her, curving his chest along her back, his legs against hers, and his arms wrapped around her. She didn't stiffen from his touch – which he realized, he was worried she would – but she didn't say anything either. That was okay though. Daryl had some things to say first.

"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm a dick. I know you don't care 'bout money. If you did, you wouldn't have even given me a second look after I changed your flat that day."

She still didn't say anything but she wasn't telling him to shut up so he pressed on.

"Takin' that money scares me," he then decided to just go all out and admit the truth because if he couldn't say it to Beth, who the hell could he say it to? "If we take the money, it's just gonna show everyone that I can't take care of you. They've been sayin' it for years and now, they'll find out that I'm takin' money from a program and they'll all be right. Livin' up to the Dixon name."

That made Beth turn in his arms, finally showing her face to him. She wasn't crying but she looked just as tired as him, showing him she hadn't slept too well the night before either.

"Daryl, you're a good man and you take the best care of me," she looked up at him.

"Maybe you gotta remind me of that sometimes," he mumbled, suddenly feeling shy.

"I will. I _do_. But you have to actually believe me sometimes when I do," she said. "It's exhausting sometimes when no matter what I say, you never believe me."

Daryl stared at her as she looked up at him with those big eyes of hers and slowly, his hand slipped down, resting on the tiny bump of their baby.

"Do you have any idea how happy I am with you or how happy I am with our life?" She asked him softly, her hand lifting to his cheek. "If it was just you and me again, we wouldn't need that money. When it was just you and me, we were poor but we were happy and that's all that mattered to me."

Daryl still didn't say anything, still staring into her eyes.

"But it's not just us anymore," she said.

He nodded, swallowing down the lump in his throat. "I don't want anyone thinkin' I have these kids and I can't take care of 'em."

"If anyone will think that, it will be from the people who don't know you so why should what they think matter at all?" She asked. "Me and the kids are the only ones who matter, Daryl," she told him softly. "No one else. Me and those boys know exactly the kind of man you are."

Daryl stared at her and stayed quiet. He could tell her a million times – probably already had that much – but she never seemed to believe him; never seemed to think that she was too good for him and he didn't deserve her and her life would have been so much better if she never married him. She looked at him and kept having kids with him and loved him and almost wore that Dixon name with pride.

And he wondered if the day would ever come where he would look at her and feel like he was someone worthy of her. Probably not.

His hand was still resting on her bump and she rested her hand over his.

"I hope we have a girl," she said softly.

He nodded. "Me, too."

She smiled, clearly surprised. "Really?"

"Startin' to feel bad for you. All those Dixon boys runnin' around the house," he said and she laughed softly, putting her hands on his shoulders and pulling him closer.

Her hands went to his cheeks, framing his face, and she made sure their eyes were locked. "No matter what we decide, we're going to be fine, Daryl. Just fine."

He looked at her and his hand went to her cheek, his thumb brushing along her soft skin. His eyes never moved from hers. "I believe you."

…

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review!<strong>


	13. Respectability

**Change of plan. This story is going to have only fifteen chapters. The next chapter will discuss why Beth tried to kill herself and the last chapter will be the birth of the third Dixon. Thank you. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Thirteen.**

Luke turned seven and Beth took birthdays very seriously in their house.

There was a party for him that afternoon with some of his friends from school and the daycare center and Beth spent the morning, putting the final decorations up and making sure the house was clean before the kids came and wrecked it all up again. She baked a cake – yellow cake with chocolate frosting, Luke's favorite – and Daryl returned from the discount store with plenty of paper plates, cups, napkins and forks as well as jugs of fruit punch and bags of potato chips. There were probably going to be about ten kids coming but Beth had invited some adults over, too, and the house was going to be full that day. She was grateful that the weather was nice so the party could spill outside and they didn't all have to be crammed inside.

Luke still wasn't used to getting birthday parties – no matter how many years he had been a Dixon now – and he was quiet that morning, looking at all of the balloons and streamers and the small banner Beth had hung with _Happy Birthday_ on it. He stood with her in the kitchen and watched as she made chocolate frosting and she let him help her ice the cake, giving him the leftover frosting to lick with a spoon.

Other birthday parties he had gone to for kids from school always had a theme – the circus or cowboys or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Luke couldn't pick a theme and didn't really want one. He just wanted a party with pizza and cake and balloons. Beth always made sure there were plenty of balloons.

"Before everyone gets here, your dad and me wanted to give you our present first," Beth said as she covered the cake and put it safely onto the counter where Hunter wouldn't be able to reach it.

It was their first month receiving money through the AAP program and Daryl had put Beth in charge of it just as she handled the other finances and bills. She had set most of it away - not to be touched until an absolute emergency - but had taken a little out for the party today – not too much. Just enough for the pizzas and his present. Just because they had an extra $1500 a month now didn't mean that she was going to let them blow through it. And even with the extra money available to them, their present to him wasn't expensive. Daryl had been able to build most of it himself. The only thing that cost the money besides the wood had been the supplies Beth had wanted to add to it.

"Daryl!" Beth called out.

Daryl appeared a minute later from the bathroom, holding Hunter in his arms. They had begun potty-training the boy but at the moment, he just liked peeing in the corners like a dog marking his property. Daryl said if he didn't stop, they would get him fixed like they would a dog but Hunter just giggled, not understanding.

Beth smiled. "Luke's present?"

Daryl looked at Luke and smiled, too, which only made Luke beam with excitement.

"We've been keepin' it in our room," Daryl told him and Luke went racing for their bedroom, Beth and Daryl following behind.

Luke nearly gasped at the size of the box sitting on the floor – almost as tall as him – and wrapped in blue wrapping paper. He looked at it for a moment, just staring at it, clearly overwhelmed. He still wasn't used to getting presents. Every Christmas and birthday since living with Beth and Daryl, he did this. He would just stare for a moment as if it wasn't really there.

But then he stepped forward and began to slowly tear the paper away. Hunter was wiggling in Daryl's arms, wanting to be put down so he could help, too, but Daryl held him tight and they all watched as Luke finished with the last shred of paper.

He stood there, for a moment, just staring at it and then he looked back to Beth and Daryl, the boy completely silent and still as if he was waiting for an explanation.

"Do you like it?" Beth asked, coming to stand beside him. "Dad built it and he even built it so we can adjust it with your height as you get older. And here," she lifted the lid of the small box built onto the front. "Your very own paints and brushes."

Luke just stood there and remained staring at the wooden art easel with the large white paper.

He then looked up at Beth and she could see the completely overwhelmed look in his eyes, quickly flooding with tears. She smiled, wanting to cry, too, and she kneeled down in front of him.

"Happy Birthday, Luke," she said softly.

Without a word, Luke crashed himself against her, wrapping his arms around her neck, and Beth smiled, closing her eyes, hugging him tightly in return. She kissed the side of his head and then stood up, taking Hunter from Daryl's arms so Luke could hug him. Daryl hugged him back, patting his back.

"Never built an easel before," Daryl said.

Luke pulled back and grinned up at him. "It's perfect! It's a million times better than the one I saw in the store!" He turned and raced back to it, running his hands over it. "And my own paints and brushes. I'm like a real artist now!"

Hunter would not stop wiggling and Beth bent down, putting him on his feet, the three-year-old running to the easel, wanting to see it, too.

"Shouldn' be liftin' him up," Daryl frowned at her, looking down to her nearly four-month bump before back at her. "He's gettin' too heavy for you."

"Stop," she said. "When I was pregnant the first time around, you wouldn't even let me lift a grocery bag."

He shrugged but didn't feel he needed to explain himself so he didn't say anything.

Luke looked back to them. "Can I paint before everyone gets here?"

"Of course you can," Beth smiled. "It's your birthday and your art easel."

Luke beamed at that and then hugged Daryl again. "Thank you," he said again.

Daryl smiled and pat him on the back and then he and Beth left the room, Beth taking Hunter with him so he couldn't get into the paints though she knew that would probably happen eventually. Daryl muttered quietly about putting a padlock on the box where the paints were kept and Beth laughed, nodding in agreement. She had to remind herself constantly that Hunter was at "that age" because otherwise, she would think her son was possessed by some sort of demon.

The other guests began to arrive and Glenn came, having volunteered to pick up the pizzas from Domino's for the party. After eating, the kids ran outside, playing tag though Beth told them to stay out from the woods and all wanting to see Daryl shoot his crossbow, them all watching in amazement as he fired a bolt to a target on a tree and Luke smiled proudly because Daryl was his dad and he was going to teach him how to shoot a crossbow, too. Beth put seven candles into the cake and Annette helped her light them before Beth called all of the kids in so they could sing 'Happy Birthday' to Luke. After eating their cake, the kids all sat on the floor in the living room and Luke began opening the presents that they had brought for him.

Daryl stood in the back, between the living room and the kitchen, and watched as Luke smiled and gasped with each present he opened. Everyone seemed to know how much Luke loved Play-Doh and they made sure he got plenty of tubs of it as well as some art supplies, Matchbox cars and a few Transformers.

Daryl smiled a little as he watched him. This was definitely something he had never had when he was a kid. Never had a birthday party. Hell, the only times he ever celebrated his birthday were with Merle when he was old enough to be taken to a strip club but even then, that had always been about Merle more than him. It wasn't until Beth where he got a cake and a present and there were so many things he got in his life now because of her.

He looked at her across the room, talking and laughing with Lori Grimes. Even if she wasn't pregnant again, he knew she'd still be glowing. And he knew that if she wasn't the one here, there was no way these other parents would let their kids come to the party. He was a Dixon. Luke was a Dixon and before that, he was a Ridgeway and those were two names in this town that people crossed the street to the other side to get away from them.

It was as if Beth had made the Dixon name respectable.

The thought made him smirk to himself. Dixon and respectable. He wished Merle was here to see this because he knew he wouldn't believe it if he just told him but Merle was still part of that old Dixon name and had gotten himself arrested again. Daryl had gotten the phone call in the middle of the night from Merle, using his one phone call to let his little brother know that he was back in jail. This time for dealing and obviously violating his parole. He had been so pissed when Merle told him. Angry. Furious. Merle could never keep himself clean and he didn't get why. What the hell example was he showing his nephews by acting like this? But Merle just chuckled and told him that he wasn't those kids' daddy. They got the good Dixon.

"You're in pretty deep thought over here for a kid's birthday party," Beth teased him, coming to stand beside him, sliding her arms around his waist.

He shrugged a little. "Just thinkin' 'bout Merle," he admitted.

Beth gave him a small smile and rested her head on his chest as he lifted his arm up to rest around her shoulders. That was the thing with Beth. She knew he was still pissed at him but also sad thinking about the way his brother could never seem to get it completely together but she also knew that he didn't want to talk about it. If Daryl did, he would come and find her and she would always be ready to listen.

After the presents were open, the parents began taking their kids home, Luke and Beth both thanking them for coming and once everyone was gone, the house was so damn quiet. Hunter had fallen asleep, passed out more like it, his mouth surrounded by chocolate frosting, and Daryl hoisted him up from beneath the kitchen table and carried him to his room to get him ready for bed and Beth began cleaning up.

"Did you have a good birthday?" She asked.

Luke beamed. "The best." He then came to her and put his arms around her waist, hugging her tightly. "Thank you, mama."

Beth smiled and kissed the top of his head. "Happy birthday, Luke," she hugged him.

"Can I go paint on my easel?" He asked.

She laughed slightly. "It's your easel. You don't have to ask," she reminded him. "We'll get your dad to move it from our room into yours. But you know how careful you're going to have to be with all of those paints."

Luke nodded quickly. "I'll be super, super careful and won't get any of them on anything," he promised.

Beth smiled. "I meant, you're going to have to be careful and make sure Hunter doesn't get his hands on them."

…

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review!<strong>


	14. Scars

**I really love this chapter and I hope you enjoy it, too. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Fourteen.**

After their fourth time together, she had made the comment. It was so innocent. She told him that he could take his shirt off if he wanted, having absolutely no idea what laid beneath or why he felt the need to hide himself.

He had stared at her, long and hard, as if looking to her face for some answer to a question he hadn't asked. She stood by the window, remaining still and silent, letting him look his fill until he found whatever he was looking for.

And when he did pull his shirt off and turned around so she could see his back, she choked back the gasp that rushed up her throat. She began to reach a hand out but she hesitated, her fingers hovering just centimeters from his skin. What would he do if she touched them? But he stood there, facing away from her, his entire body tense, clearly waiting to see what she would do. And she knew that this would probably be one of the most important moments between them – how she reacted right now.

She had already fallen in love with him. It had all happened so quickly, nearly at first sight and she knew he didn't love her – wasn't even close to loving her – but she knew without him telling her that he had never showed anyone his back before but here and now, he was showing it to her. That meant more than any words he could say to her in regards to his feelings. Maybe, one day, he would fall in love with her but right now, he was telling her he trusted her and coming from Daryl Dixon, she knew how big of a step that was in earning.

She didn't tell him she was sorry. She knew he wouldn't want her pity or the sadness she felt as she thought of a much younger Daryl, having to endure this type of abuse.

Instead, she stepped forward and her hands slid over his hips from behind. He was still so tense, every muscle in his body tight and braced as if he was waiting for her to hit him, too. She leaned forward and kissed the end of one of the long slashes, slowly and lightly dragging her lips across the length of it. His hands dropped to hers and she thought he was going to push her away and tell her to get the hell out but he just stood there, rigid and still, and her lips brushed across every scar she saw. She kissed some twice or three times and she didn't know how long it took but she wasn't in any sort of hurry – not wanting to rush through this – and he didn't step away from her. Eventually, she began to feel his body start to unwind.

And when she was done, she pushed herself up on her toes and put her lips to his ear. "I love you more than anything in this world, Daryl Dixon," she whispered. "I'll love you until the day I die."

He was still quiet and he slowly turned then, facing her again. He stared at her and she settled back on her feet, looking up at him. She didn't wait for him to say anything to her. She knew he would probably never respond when she said things like that, no matter how often she would say them. She looked up at him and wondered if he could ever love her or if she would always have to be able to love enough for the both of them.

Daryl lifted a hand then, his eyes never leaving hers, and his hand came to her cheek, fingers sliding back towards her hair and his thumb caressing the line of her jaw.

He stepped forward then and she tilted her chin up, knowing what he was going to do, and yet, when he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her softly, she released a soft sigh as if she was surprised with his action.

His arms dropped down and circled her waist, holding her body tightly against his, and her arms slipped up around his shoulders, closing her eyes and losing herself to the way his lips caressed hers and his facial hair gently scratched her face. He slowly turned them around and began guiding her towards the bed, lowering her down on the mattress and the tangled sheets.

She felt like she had just passed some silent test he had given her and he was now thanking her; thanking her for understanding. She still didn't know the story of the lashes and maybe she never would but he had showed her and she knew she was the only person to ever see them before. And she didn't thank him for showing her or trusting her. She just kissed him in return and hoped he knew how much that meant to her and she wondered if he even realized the step they had taken together.

Afterwards, he had gotten up to get her a glass of water from the kitchen and she laid there, the sheets pulled over her naked body, her eyes looking at her left wrist. She always covered it with bracelets, only having it bare when she took a shower and when she went to sleep at night. Every other time, she made sure it was covered. She hadn't shown Daryl yet but now, she felt like she should; like she could. And yet, she felt ashamed as she often did when she thought of her own scar.

Their scars were completely different. He had absolutely no choice in receiving his and had gone through the most pain from a person in his life who should have loved him and protected him instead of beating him for fun. Even just thinking about his back now, she felt tears starting to sting her eyes and her thumb moved through the bracelets so she could feel the raised skin of the healed scar on her wrist.

Daryl came back into the room and she gave him a small smile, sitting up against the pillows as he handed her the glass.

"Thank you," she said and took a small sip as he got back into the bed beside her.

After having done this a few times now, he was much more comfortable around her, actually slipping back between the covers and stretching out alongside her. She took another sip of the water before placing the glass on the nightstand next to her side of the bed and then scooted back down, lying beside him, her head coming to a rest on his chest. She smiled faintly as his arm came around her lower back, holding her loosely but still keeping her to his side.

"I was sixteen," she began softly, surprising even herself at the suddenness in which she was just diving into this. "Maggie and Shawn were both away at college and my mom was a teacher's aide at the elementary school so she was always there and my dad was so busy with the farm. And I… I just felt like I was just there. Completely alone. Not even my friends were really my friends. I looked at them and it wasn't as if they really knew me. They had just become people I sat with a table in the cafeteria. I was dating a boy, Jimmy, and everyone told me how lucky I was and how wonderful he was and how much I probably loved him but I didn't feel that towards him. At all. I knew I probably should have. What sixteen-year-old girl wasn't in love with her boyfriend? But I didn't feel that. I didn't feel anything."

She took a deep breath and she wondered if she should continue. This was just going to make her sound like a stupid little girl who didn't know how hard life could be.

But Daryl had showed her his scars and she knew how hard that had been for him.

She pressed on. "I felt like this weight was in my chest, just always pressing down on me like someone was placing stones on top of me and no matter how hard I tried, no matter how much I tried to get myself to smile or laugh or play the piano and sing, it wouldn't go away."

He wasn't saying anything but she knew he was listening to every word she said. And suddenly, she didn't want to say anything else. He had been beaten and had never known good things in his life but he had never tried to kill himself. And she took her dad's straight-edge razor to her wrist because she was feeling sad?

She felt tears again welling in her eyes and she moved away from him then, sitting up. She would always remember the look in her parents' faces as she laid in the hospital bed, a thick white bandage around her wrist. So much sadness and a hint of disappointment and Beth hated herself for putting them through that. She had vowed to herself that day that she would get herself better.

He sat up, too, and looked at her but she lowered her eyes, for once not wanting to look at him. Her thumb went back to her wrist, rubbing circles on the scar beneath her bracelets.

Daryl reached over and his fingers were gentle as they circled her wrist. She watched, practically not breathing, as he began to gently and slowly remove all of her bracelets. They looked at the scar together – long and pale and ugly – and he looked at it for a moment before he looked at her again. This time, Beth turned her head and lifted her eyes, looking at him, swallowing almost nervously.

He then lifted her wrist and she couldn't help but gasp softly when he kissed her scar just as she had kissed his.

She held her breath and watched him and now, she felt like crying for an entirely different reason.

He lifted his lips from her wrist and looked at her, his thumb now rubbing slow circles against her scar. "You'll tell me? If you get to feelin' sad like that 'gain?" He asked, his voice low and quiet and his eyes intense on hers.

She looked at him and if she hadn't loved him then already, she would have just fallen completely in love with him.

She nodded her head slightly and was able to give him a small, true, smile. "I can't see myself ever getting sad when I'm with you," she then admitted in a whisper.

And only after she said it did she think that maybe it was the wrong thing to say. Maybe he would feel pressure then that he had to keep her happy or even to keep seeing her so she didn't cut her wrist again. Maybe she had put all of this pressure on him all of a sudden with what she had just said but just as she opened her mouth to tell him that he didn't have any sort of obligation to her, Daryl's hands slid over her cheeks, holding her head gently between them.

He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers and her own hands lifted to his face as he slowly lowered her down onto her back, their lips never parting. She closed her eyes and kissed him again and again and the only weight she felt on her chest now was the weight from him on top of her. It was the best weight in the entire world.

…

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading and please review!<strong>


	15. A Dixon Life

**This story ends with fluff as it should. Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported this story. **

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><p>…<p>

**Chapter Fifteen. **

Even without the baby monitor on their nightstand table, Beth would have heard the baby start to whimper. She looked to Daryl and though he was normally such a light sleeper, recently, he had started a side carpentry business and if he wasn't working at the garage, he was building all sorts of things that people had commissioned him for and he fell into their bed, exhausted each night. Right now, he was in the middle of building Judith Grimes a playhouse.

Beth pushed the blankets back and she stood up, grabbing the nearby flannel shirt of Daryl's and slipping it on over her tee-shirt. Buttoning it as she left their bedroom, she crossed the living room to the newest room that Daryl had built onto the house, a nursery with mint green walls and Abigail Dixon beginning to fuss in her crib.

"It's alright, baby girl," Beth said softly, lifting the baby up into her arms. "Mama's here," she rubbed the two-month-old on the back and Abby whimpered through her pacifier, pressing her face to Beth's throat. Beth kissed her on the head and carried her to the changing table to give her a fresh diaper.

Outside, the woods were quiet except for the crickets chirping and an occasional owl hoot. A light wind was blowing, scratching tree branches against the windows and looking out, it was completely pitch black. If she wasn't so used to living in seclusion like this in the middle of the woods, Beth knew she would probably be a little spooked. She remembered when she and Daryl had first gotten married and sometimes, he would be out hunting and not return until after dark. Beth would be alone in the house, jumping at every slightest noise made, never knowing what something was.

They hadn't kept Abby's sex a surprise like they had with Hunter's. They had wanted to be prepared this time for either another boy – in which he would inherit all of Luke's and Hunter's hand-me-downs – or a girl – in which they would need all new stuff. The furniture was all the same but at the baby shower Annette hosted for her again, this time, it seemed like everything else was in some shade of pink. So much pink, as Daryl had grumbled.

Beth knew she would never forget the look on Daryl's face when their daughter was finally here after a much longer, harder labor than it had been with Hunter and he held her for the first time. With Hunter, it had been amazement but mostly shock. He was their first son and he was a father now to this baby boy in his arms. But he knew he could handle it even if he had no idea what he was doing because Hunter was a boy and he understood boys.

But when he held Abby, Beth saw something on her husband's face she hardly ever saw there. He was terrified. He held her and stared down at her and he had no idea what to do with her. What did Daryl Dixon know about having a baby girl in his life?

But Daryl did what Daryl always did and entered being the father to a daughter in the same way he entered anything. Determined to work as hard as he could and prove to everyone around him that he could do anything and be damn good at it.

With Daryl Dixon as her daddy and with older Dixon brothers, and with an uncle like Merle when Merle decided to stay clean for few months at a time, Beth was already feeling bad for their daughter when Abby got older and decided she wanted to start dating. Beth doubted Daryl would approve of anyone she would bring home. He still didn't even understand why Hershel had given his blessing to them years earlier when they had come to him and Beth told him they were going to get married. If he had been Hershel, he would have chased him off of his farm with a shotgun.

Beth sat down in the rocking chair that they had found at the thrift store and Daryl had given a fresh stain to, making it look brand new, and she cradled Abby in her arms, the baby content was again and sleepy, sucking on her pacifier and her hands curled into small fists.

"Just before our love got lost/you said/I am as constant as a northern star/and I said/constantly in the darkness/where's that at/if you want me/I'll be in the bar," she began to sing to her daughter in a soft voice, rocking them both back and forth.

She didn't hear him come but she wasn't startled when he suddenly appeared in the doorway, still looking half-asleep, his hair a mess, sticking up in several directions on his head and he wore sweatpants and a tee-shirt. He always moved so silently.

"She okay?" He asked in a rough, sleepy voice.

Beth smiled, nodding. She looked at him and then back to the baby who had almost fallen completely back to sleep. Daryl came and crouched down beside the rocking chair, looking at their daughter and listening as Beth kept singing softly to her.

"Still can't believe she's ours," he then spoke gruffly.

Beth looked at him again and smiled. "All ours. And she looks like you."

"Poor kid," he said and she laughed softly.

She stood up slowly so not to disturb Abby and she went to gently place the baby down into her crib again, covering her with her blankets. For a moment, she just watched her sleep and when she lifted her head, she saw Daryl watching her.

"What?" Beth asked, keeping her voice quiet, and she felt her cheeks blush as if she was all of a sudden shy. Daryl could always look at her with the most intense eyes sometimes and she still wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself when he did.

He just shook his head and kept staring at her.

"Stop," she said softly, almost laughing, and playfully put a hand over his eyes.

He smirked a little and his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrist, gently pulling her hand away. He didn't say anything as he gave it a slight tug and she looked down to Abby one more time before he guided them from the room.

Back in their bed, beneath the blankets once again, she sighed softly, feeling more tired now than she had just minutes before and she laid down on her side. Daryl laid down on his side, too, facing her, and he was still staring at her.

"Daryl, you're starting to freak me out a little," she admitted, a laugh in her voice.

He smirked a little again and shook his head. "Just thinkin', is all. Thinkin' about the day you got your flat tire and how I came out of the woods right there."

Beth's face melted into a smile. She thought about that day and the first time they met all of the time, too. "Best day of my life," she whispered.

He didn't say anything but he stared into her eyes and nodded his head. She smiled and leaned into him then, pressing her lips to his and his hand cupped the back of her head, keeping her close.

…

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><p>It didn't matter that it was Saturday. They were all early risers and as the sun began to rise, Daryl was already up and going to collect Abby before going into the kitchen to begin the coffeemaker. Luke was awake next, going to the bathroom first, before coming into the kitchen and getting the carton of milk from the refrigerator. He got the box of Honey Nut O's from the cabinet as Daryl set a bowl and spoon down on the counter for him.<p>

"You think Hunter will be able to do it today?" Luke asked as he began eating his breakfast, milk dribbling down his chin.

Daryl poured himself a cup of coffee and then sat down at the table across from him, Abby cradled in the crook of one of his arms. "Guess we'll find out," he said.

"He's gonna scare away all the game," Luke pointed out to him with a frown.

Daryl just shrugged and took a sip of coffee. "Prob'ly. But he's gotta learn."

And then, as if knowing they were talking about him, Hunter came running into the kitchen in nothing but his whitey-tighty underwear, Beth coming behind him.

Daryl smirked a little and looked at her.

"Hopefully, this no pants phase is just that. A phase," she smiled, already looking exhausted even though they had all just woken up. She kissed Luke on the head and then Abby on the head before kissing Daryl on his temple. "I told him he can't go out in the woods, hunting today, in just his underwear."

"Yes, I can!" Hunter exclaimed and Luke and Daryl both winced a little.

Hunter was also going through a shouting phase.

Beth took a bottle of breast milk from the refrigerator and a small pan, heating it up on the stove for a few minutes before testing a few drops on her wrist and then handing it to Daryl. He took one more sip of coffee before shifting Abby in his arm and slipping the nipple of the bottle between her lips. She then fixed Hunter his own bowl of cereal and set it down at his usual place between Luke and Daryl.

"Eat, Hunter," she told him but he was also going through yet another phase and he took the bowl and spoon and crawled under the table so he could eat on the floor.

Luke frowned and looked to Daryl and Beth. "Where did he come from?"

"Don't be mean to your brother," was all Beth said.

They heard a car pull up to the house and Daryl and Beth both looked to the clock on the microwave. It wasn't even seven yet. Beth went to the door to see who it was just as there was a knock on the front door. She unlocked it and opened it to see Sheriff Rick Grimes standing on their front porch through the screen door.

"Good morning, Sheriff," she smiled at him sweetly. "Does Daryl need to have his alibi ready?" She teased.

Rick just smiled. "Not today, Beth. He up?"

"As always." Beth unlatched the screen door and pushed it open for him to enter.

Daryl stood up at the sight of him and handed Abby to Beth for her to be burped. "Want some coffee?" Daryl asked.

"That'd be great, thanks," Rick nodded. "Worked an all-nighter but I wanted to stop by before going home to talk to Daryl about something first."

Daryl nodded and handed Rick a cup of coffee. "Wanna go out back?"

Rick nodded as he sipped on his steaming beverage and followed Daryl through the kitchen, the back screen door slapping shut behind them. Luke finished his cereal and carried his empty bowl and spoon to the sink.

"Don't forget to make your bed before you leave with your dad this morning," Beth said. "And your orange sweatshirt is still hanging on the line outside. We forgot to bring it in last night."

"I'll get it," Luke quickly volunteered.

"And feed the chickens!" Beth called after him as Luke raced out the back door. She patted Abby on the back until the baby let out a small burp. She kissed her on the cheek and kept rubbing her back. "You good down there, Hunter?"

"Good!" Hunter shouted back.

Rick loved the Dixon property. He, personally, didn't think he would be able to handle living up here like this, away from everything and everyone but sometimes, it must have been nice to be out here, entirely on their own, with no sound but birds chirping in the air. No annoying car stereos blaring down the street or unruly dogs barking at three o'clock in the morning or the neighbors having another fight. Rick could definitely see the appeal.

Daryl's shed had been turned into a woodshop for him to work in. All of his tools and hunting gear were kept securely in there as well as all of his wood and buzz saw. Daryl led him in there now and Rick pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. He handed it to Daryl and Daryl hesitated for only a moment before unfolding it, looking it over silently for a moment.

"Thought of you two when I saw it. It's falling apart but it's been abandoned for almost twenty years. Whoever owns it finally put it on the market," Rick said.

Daryl didn't say anything. Just stared at the internet printout from the real estate website that Rick had handed him. A two story farmhouse and by the looks of it just in the picture, the owner should be giving it away for how much work would be needed to be put into it to make it livable again.

He then looked at Rick. "Beth and me aren't lookin' to move," he said, a little confused as to why Rick had brought this to his attention.

"I know," Rick nodded. "I just remember you saying a few weeks ago that you said you wished you had a little more room."

Daryl nodded and looked back down to the paper. "Don't think we can afford it," he shrugged.

The money they got through AAP every month was put into their savings account and never touched. Beth was saving up for them to take their first family vacation somewhere. And his work at the garage and his new side business were giving them more money but he still didn't think they would have enough for another house and a whole set of new bills to pay.

Rick nodded. "I get that. I was just thinking… I don't know. Maybe you guys would want to move closer to town. A lot of people still think you cook meth or make moonshine up here," he then said.

Daryl paused a moment and then shrugged. "Really doesn't matter to me what anyone thinks," he said though deep down, it made him feel good that Rick would care what people thought about him and his family.

Past Rick, outside the shed, he saw Luke racing out into the back yard, going to the laundry line where his bright orange hunting sweatshirt was hanging. He tugged it down and yanked it on even though he was still wearing his pajamas. The back door then opened again and Hunter ran out, still wearing only his underwear.

"Chickens, chickens!" He was shouting.

Daryl sighed and left the shed to hurry and get Hunter before he could scare the shit out the chickens so badly, they would stop laying their eggs for weeks.

Rick chuckled, following him, as Daryl grabbed Hunter away from the chicken coop and hoisted him up in his arms.

"Think he might be possessed," Rick commented.

"Merle said the same thing," Daryl smirked a little. "Takin' the boys out huntin' today," he then switched the subject, not wanting to think about his brother at the moment. "Carl can come if he wants."

Rick smiled at that. "I'll go home and ask him. He'd probably love to. There's a new girl who moved next door to us with her family and she's a little obsessed with him. He'd be happy to get away from her."

"Aren't they a lil' too young for obsession?" Daryl asked.

"If you met Lizzie, you'd understand," Rick chuckled a little.

After Rick had another cup of coffee and said he'd be back with Carl in a little bit, Beth told Luke and Hunter to get themselves ready and she went to place Abby down in her bouncer on the living room floor, her mobile of stuffed farm animals overhead. She went back into the kitchen to clean up from breakfast and Daryl came in from the back, holding some eggs tucked into his shirt. He carefully put them away into the refrigerator and looked to Abby, her arm stretching up as she tried to grab hold of the pig animal. He heard Luke telling Hunter from the bathroom to stop squirting toothpaste everywhere. He then looked to Beth as she stood at the sink, washing dishes, humming a song to herself as she worked.

She was still young. Still that light. Still the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

"Are you happy?" He heard himself ask in his low, gruff way.

Beth didn't look at him. She just smiled and kept humming. "It is way too early for you to be asking me stupid questions like that, Daryl Dixon," she said.

Daryl smirked at that and he came to stand behind her, his arms slipping around her waist and his chin coming down to a rest on her shoulder. He listened to her hum one of her songs softly for a few minutes. "I love you," he then said quietly as if he didn't want anyone to possibly overhear him telling her that. And he knew he didn't tell her that often – not nearly enough – but he hoped she always knew that.

Beth turned her head and looked at him, the softest smile he had ever seen on her face. "I love you, too," she whispered back, her eyes locked with his, and Daryl was the one to close the centimeters between their lips and kiss her.

…

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><p><strong>The End.<strong>


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